Princess and the False Hero Remake Chapter 1: The New Journey Begins
About a month has elapsed since the incident at Kagutsuchi unraveled itself. Yet, it left many questions lingering in everyone's mind once it concluded. The last time he saw his brother was after he defeated Mu-12, and the both of them found out that their supposedly dead sister, Saya, was the one behind the scenes pulling all the strings for every misfortune that everyone had suffered.
The blonde man thought back to all those horrid events that had occurred in Kagutsuchi as he continued to swing his sword in various patterns, creating new techniques he could use in any upcoming battles. He lined his sword up with the edge of a far off tree before he took a swing to form a small ice trail in front of him as he did. Its sparkly clear edges froze the lush grass below it, sending the sparkly clear gloss to coat over it.
The man then pulled his blade up to eye level with him and stared into its icy blade. It was like a flash of reminiscence as he stared into that cursed sword. For a minute, he could have sworn he saw his childhood friend's frightened sapphire eyes staring back at him, begging him to save her.
He left out a huff as his mind drifted back to the memory of them arguing. It lasted for a while but he felt that he almost reached out to her to convince her to leave the NOL.
That interruption from the man with emerald hair and snake-like yellow eyes would ruin everything. He twisted the beliefs of the young librarium and turned her against the one man that she held deep feelings for. That was the last time the two childhood friends spoke. Of course, right after their battle she was whisked away from the Imperator's faceless underling, the Phantom.
Jin's eyes slowly averted themselves from the cursed sword's blade as he looked up to the endless blue sky above. He forced out a sigh of grief as he kept thinking about his childhood friend. He was wondering how terrified she has to be feeling from being under the influence of the most powerful will-stealing spells named Mind Eater. Before he could continue thinking quietly to himself, he was interrupted by his teacher, Master Jubei.
"Still thinkin' about that Tsubaki, are you?" Jubei asked.
That gave Jin a shock. He felt irked that the old feline read him like a book. He didn't want to admit that Jubei was right.
"Oopsie, yer gonna say she's the enemy, I reckon. But despite ya sayin' that, I'm sure yer still worried 'bout her."
Jin gritted his teeth together as Jubei managed to read his mind again like a crystal ball. The cat who stood on his hind legs proudly as he gave off a slight smirk at Jin's annoyed expression.
"Heh, that face yer' pulling reminds me of Ragna's." Jubei noted with a chuckle.
"Enough. In stead of wasting my time with teasing me could you give me the information?" Jin growled as he changed subjects.
"You're asking for classified information but asking for it in a rather arrogant kind of way. Must be genetics. Your brother does the same." Jubei said causing Jin to let out an annoyed groan. Jubei chuckled before saying the name of Tsubaki's choice of weapon in a more serious tone. "The sealed weapon Izayoi."
"Unfortunally I don't know any of the details on that cursed weapon. The only thing I do know is that it will eventunally cause Tsubaki to go blind after over use of the weapon." Jin stated in a angered tone as he clentched his fist. Thinking of the damange it may of caused her already.
Noticing the tension in Jin's body Jubei place a paw onto the young soilder's shoulder to give him a sense of comfort. "Jin, relax. There's still time to save her... Now, you want to know more about the Iazyoi, right?" He asked Jin who responded with a firm nod.
"Welll the info I've got isn't the greatest, but the sealed weapon Izayoi is a prototype of the Nox Nyctores that were produced by Nine. The weapon increase's the user's power rapidly. But costs an equal amount of the user's light and eventually... over usage can cause the user's life." Jubei paused for a moment to let the information to sink into Jin's mind. Jin then let out a sigh of disappointment as he let the cat continue with his brief explanation.
"Supposedly, it was created a long time ago before the first Dark War as a weapon to combat observers. Although I'm sorry that I can't provide more details. It was hard enough to find this much information. Even the guy I got to find this had troubles finding all of this information in some old books." He exclaimed.
"What... that's all you can give me?" Jin whined as Jubei's pupil's formed into small slits.
"Com'on, quit yer bitchin' and lemme finish." Jubei hissed. "According to what I heard, the Izayoi from those books and the one that you and I know of seem to assume different forms." He mentioned, causing Jin's eyebrow to raise as his face gained an curious expression.
"Different forms? What does that even mean?" Jin mumbled his question whilst rubbing his thumb across the end of his jaw, trying to come up with an possible theory.
"Who knows." The cat replied. "However, the guy that I got the information from did mention that the weapon does apparently evolve." Jubei mentioned sending Jin's mind onto an even more confusing rollacoster of questions.
"Evloves?... Hmmm... A weapon that can evolve. How does a weapon even do such a thing?" Jin wondered to himself in pure confusion as he stared at his right hand, almost as if he was looking for an answer from it. 'Tsubaki... What on earth have you gotten yourself into?'
Noticing Jin's troubled look, Jubei offered him another source of information on the Izayoi. "If you'd like I can pass you off to someone who knows more about the Izayoi then I do. But you'll need to talk to him on your own."
Jin then tore his eyes away from his right hand as he looked at Jubei questionably. "Who?" He simply asked with an curious look on his face.
"Hakumen." Jubei replied as he watched Jin's face fill with a surprised look.
"Hakumen?" Jin repeated the name as he remembered the tall hero who was clad in an samurai styled white armor with an faceless white mask. Hakumen was known as one of the six heroes who fort the Black Beast a hundred years ago. Jin still was puzzled as to why the hero still existed today, but that wasn't his top priority.
Jubei sternly nodded as he replied, "I hate to admit it, but he knows way more about the Izayoi then I. Hakumen had 'her' research it, since he was lost before her eyes." Jubei mumbled the last part, causing Jin's mind to be lead astray. Jubei then continued as he mentioned, "Hakumen is on his way to Ikaruga as we speak. Oh, and your brother Ragna is heading there as well, so I heard."
'Ikaruga, huh? I wonder if anyone else is heading towards Ikaruga, if so, I have a bad feeling that something dreadful might occur.' Jin wondered to himself.
Jubei the breathed in heavily, before saying out loud. "Okay, enough chit-chat. It's time for us to train some more!"
"My body is ready." Jin spoke in a calm tone as he positioned himself into his composed fighting stance. He gripped the handle of Yukiensa's blade and pulled it out of the sheath sightly, ready for the duel against Jubei.
"Hahaha, I love that you welcome strict training. It's a trait that you certainly don't share with your brother." Jubei chuckled to himself as he then took his fighting stance. "I'm ready when you are, Jin." Jubei smirked before grabbing his sword out, placing it carefully in his mouth as he waited for Jin's first move.
Jin then proceeded to charge forward whilst swinging his sword, sending an chilli ray of mist towards Jubei. Unfortunately for Jin, Jubei swiftly avoided the attack as he ran behind Jin. He then jabbed Jin in the back using the handle of his sword. Jubei then swung the sword down towards Jin, although Jin quickly turned around as he managed to deflect Jubei's second attack.
Jubei then performed a back flip, landing on the side of a tree before launching himself off it. Jubei went flying towards Jin with his sword's sharp tip aiming straight for the young man. Jin then threw his hand up and pointed a finger at Jubei as he yelled out, "Freeze!" Ice then flew out of Jin's finger tip, engulfing Jubei in it's freezing capsule of ice.
Jubei then shook until the ice broke. Once feed, he wasted no time and striked Jin back. He then kicked Jin in the gut and then swung his sword, causing Jin to stumble backwards as he received slash marks across his chest.
Jin then managed to regain his footing back, before racing forward towards Jubei while slashing his sword in multiple patterns. Jubei dodged most of Jin's attacks, only receiving minimal damage. He then slammed his katana against Jin's, causing a matalic noise to ring through the air. Both the cat and the man's body shook as they tried to knock their opponents swords out of their grip.
Jin did his best to try and push Jubei's sword back, but found he was unable to do so. He was versing the strongest being in the entire world after all. Even so, Jin knew he had to beat Jubei since it was his last task before completing his training with the cat.
Jubei then shoved Jin back, before placing his sword back into it's sheath and then running off among the tree's.
Jin then gave chase to the cat, running through the forest after Jubei. Only then did Jin realize what the cat was up to. "Oh, no." Jin mumbled as he stared at Jubei in pure horror. Jubei stood onto of an large bolder, holding a entire tree in his paws above his head.
"Dodge this, Jin!" He yelled out to the young man before throwing the tree directly at him.
"Whoa!" Jin gasped as he lunged to the right, just missing the fatal attack from Jubei. Although Jin knew he wasn't in the safe yet. He had to keep leaping from side to side, dodging the multiple tree's that came flying right at him.
Once Jin managed to get some distance he quietly mumbled, "Musou Senshouzan..." An large icicle shaped board generated before him, Jin then jumped on it right as it launched itself right at Jubei. It slammed right into the cat, although it still didn't cause the cat to go down. Jin then jumped off it and swung his sword. The icy blade of Jin's katana left an huge gash mark across Jubei's stomach as it sent the cat sprawling on the dirt below.
Jin then carefully crept closer to the cat, who almost in a instant raised to his feet once more. Jubei then smirked as he said, "Well done, Jin. Congratulations, your've completed yer' training."
Jin stayed quiet as he nodded. 'Finally, I'm ready...' He said to himself, before paying attention to what Jubei had to say to him before Jin took off anywhere.
"Jin, if that girl is really important to you. Then set aside everything else to save her... the world included." Jubei gave him some advice.
"Don't worry, no matter what it takes. I will save Tsubaki." Jin spoke in a low tone as he stared at Jubei with determination in his emerald eyes. He then turned around and began to walk away from the cat, heading straight for Ikaruga.
As Jubei watched Jin leave his sight, he mumbled under his breath. "The grief and pain of losing the one you love...Jin... I pray that you accomplish what I was unable to do... and save her." With that, Jubei then turned his back away from the direction Jin went. He then walked deeper into the forest, heading towards his very own goal.
Tsubaki sat at her desk sorting through a pile of paper work prior to the indecent in the Kagutsuchi NOL branch. She knew what really happened there, after all the one responsible told her themselves. He told her that all thousands NOL solders at the Kagutsuchi branch had their souls sacrifice in order to reawaken Noel Vermillon, an old friend of hers, into the godslayer known as kusanagi.
Although dispite knowning the frightful truth, Tsubaki decided to keep it to herself. Even if she wanted to expose the one who caused it to the public, she found she was unable to do so. It wasn't anything like she didn't want to, the reason Tsubaki was unable to expose 'him' for all his evil deeds was due to being under a mind controlled spell known as Ruby Mind Eater curse.
A person who wore an cape with an witches hat to conceal her face was called Phantom, she was the one who had placed the spell on Tsubaki to ensure that she would follow every command from the Imperator. Basically what the spell does is that it projects one's cognizance atop of another's conscience. In other words, she was the Imperator's personal puppet on strings.
After sorting through the pile of endless reports, Tsubaki heard a knock on the door to her office. She knew who it was that had come to see her. It was 'him', the man who caused all the unfortunate events in Kagutsuchi.
Biting her lip she tried her best not to answer to the knock, although the minute she didn't want to answer she felt a strange pulse within her, edging her to open her mouth and speak. It was the spell influencing her body once more as it force her to choke out the words, "Come in!"
Slowly the bulky wooden door creaked open and a man who was clad in a black suit and a fedora stepped into the room.
Tsubaki couldn't see his eyes through the fedora that covered them, even so, whenever Tsubaki did catch a glimpse of his eyes, they were golden colored and the pupil was in the shape of snakes eye. They scared her with his bone chilling stares.
Shaking the thought of his eyes out of her mind, she asked, "Captain Hazama, why do you wish to see me now?" She asked in a rather obvious irritated tone.
"Hello, Major Yayoi." The man greeted as he took off his fedora and bowed. On purposely ignoring Tsubaki's frustration towards him.
"I'll ask again. Why are you here?" She snarled, making sure it was clear to him that he wasn't welcomed here.
"Gezz, no need to be rude. I just wanted to come here and congratulate you." He said while placing his fedora back ontop of his head.
Tsubaki looked a little surprised by Hazama's statement. She didn't know what she had supposedly done to earn that, although once he explained what she apparently did she frowned.
"You know, on your promotion. For battling against the infamous Ragna the Bloodedge and saved the Imperator." He announced to her in a proud tone and oh, did he enjoy the extremely annoyed expression on Tsubaki's face.
"Don't be so foolish!" Tsubaki growled, "You and I both know that YOU set this all up." She accused the man who stood before her, who just gave out a chuckle of amusement.
"Oh man, that's a good one!" He laughed out, "Now why on earth would you think that I would so something so... scandalous?" Hazama asked in a innocent tone, acting as if he had never done anything wrong in his life and that she was just making stuff up.
He then lifted up his fedora and glared at her with his golden snake eyes, staring at her as if she was his prey. "You'd better be careful in what you say, Miss Yayoi. Someone could seriously get hurt if they... just happened to step out of the line." His voice had a venomous undertone in sound in it as he grinned at the lady sadistically.
"Is that a threat?" She inquired while glaring at the man who stood a couple of feet in front of her.
"I don't need to make threats when I could just kill you, sweet heart." Hazama spoke with an fake loving tone which caused Tsubaki to receive even more bad vibes from the captain.
Tsubaki swallowed hard as fear began to set within her body as it begun to tremble. Honestly though, deep down she felt that death maybe the only way to save her, even so... she didn't want that. She just wanted to escape her endless nightmare of angony.
Tsubaki then shook the horrible thought out of her head, before ordering Hazama to get out of her office. "Hazama, excuse me for being rude, but, may you please leave. I've got a lot more work to do and-"
Before Tsubaki could finish her sentence though, Hazama swiftly moved his way behind Tsubaki as he raised his hand above the back of her neck. "Oh, the only work you'll be doing is in Ikaruga." With that Hazama commence with slamming his hand down, hard, against the back of Tsubaki's a huge crunch noise to be heard as she began shake.
"Guh... J-Jin." She muttered out just as she fell the ground, finally losing her conscience.
Hazama then lent down to Tsubaki and picked her up, throwing her unconsciousness body over his shoulder. "It seems that she's still got an mind of her own." Hazama mumbled to himself as he carried her towards the exit of her office. "Look's like we need to speed up the process of her reawakening as the sword of the Imperator." He snickered as he opened an singular eye, before bursting them both wide open as he let out a maniacal laugh.
Tsubaki found herself surrounded by darkness once more and the only thing she could see was an faint figure of Jin that was illuminated by a small shine of light.
"J-Jin?" She called out as she took a few steps towards him.
"Do you honestly believe that this so-called 'order' that you deem so important derives solely from the power of the librarium?" The figure of Jin asked her in a slightly frustrating sounding tone.
Tsubaki sighed, once upon a time she would have said 'yes' in an almost instant, believing it with all of her faith... but now in all honestly, she wasn't so sure anymore. "I-It's... the librarium was created solely to give the world order and peace. So-" She replied in an unsure tone, although before she could finish her sentence she was interrupted.
"That's complete bulls**t!" Jin called out on her. "Tsubaki stop lying to yourself. You and I both know that you no longer believe in what the NOL is doing is what's right!" He argued back as he gave Tsubaki a vicious glare, causing Tsubaki to cower back away from him.
He then let out a sigh as he realized how uncomfortable and scared he caused Tsubaki to feel. "I'm sorry, Tsubaki." He spoke with a much softer tone. "It's your choice. But I won't stop persisting on you leaving the Librarium." He said as he began to fade off into the darkness that continued to surround Tsubaki.
"J-Jin?!" Tsubaki called out his name, "Jin, no! Please... don't leave me again!" She screamed out as she chased after the fading image into the depth's of this darkness. Only to find herself alone... once more.
Tsubaki shot up into a sitting position from the seat which she was lying down along it. Rubbing the back of her neck gently with her hand, Tsubaki looked around at her surroundings. unfortunately the first thing she spotting sitting in the seats across from her was Hazama.
"Welcome back to the land of the living dead, Miss Yayoi!" Hazama cheered greetfully.
"Ugh..." Tsubaki groaned, "Where are we?" She asked while feeling slightly dizzy.
"We're sitting in a cabin on an Ars Magus vessel that's heading towards Ikaruga." Hazama answered as he glanced out the window to the endless blue sky as a bunch of clouds drifted by under their window.
"Oh." Tsubaki let out as she too glanced out the window, feeling rather puzzled as to why they were on the way to Ikaurga. Though she knew that even if she asked what their mission was she'll be forced to complete it even if she opposed to it.
Hazama then looked back over to Tsubaki as he asked in an non interested tone, "So what on earth were you dreaming about just then?"
Tsubaki's eyes grew wide as she replied, "N-Nothing, I wasn't dreaming about anything!" She lied to him, doing her best to cover up her recent nightmare. Although it seems almost impossible to get away with such thing when the one whom your speaking with can enter your mind and thoughts without a single struggle.
"Oh, don't give me that!" He scowled, "You know how much I HATE lies!" He glared at the young librarium who shivered in fear. "Now, please tell me why on earth do you keep dreaming about that traitor Jin Kisaragi? I mean, he is one of the NOL's top traitor's now he's even got an pretty large bounty on his head right now. If I was you, you'd better stop dreaming about that false hero. Otherwise you might get in a lot of trouble with the Imperator and we both know that you don't want to see your savior angry at you." A evil smirk slithered across his face as he clicked his finger, watching Tsubaki's eyes glowed red as she spoke in an emotionless tone.
"Yes, captain Hazama. The Imperator's mind and strenght is all I need." She spoke as if she was a mindless doll, mimicking the words of her puppeteer. Even if her body and mouth both did as the Imperator instructed, her mind continued to scream out for her hero to save her. For Jin to hold her in his arms and tell her that there is nothing to worry about anymore. But even so, we all knew that her dream and desperate cries for help came to no avail.
A/N: Yes, I've already remastered this fic once already, but I decided to continue work on it from scratch. Although for this chapter (or at least several of the first paragraphs), most of the credit goes to my good friend Kimmo who spell check, grammar checked and polished my sentence structures off for me. So thank you very much for the help, Kimmo-chan. I wouldn't have made it sound as good as you did. Anyways, to everyone else, please feel free to leave an review and I shall see you guys soon! Good bye for now, ladies and gentlemen! *bows*