A/N: To start off, thank you! Thank you for reading this.
Second of all, this story was based off of two things: Awoken Sakuya's evolution materials, and this quote, which was found on the Puzzle Dragon X database.
"But Kirin was special. Fagan had entrusted her to pass down a special technique. A mixture of grace and strength, the boisterous dance. She was given the chance to lead, and only lead, and do so not only powerfully, but also passionately, also beautifully."
-Katasun, found on Puzzle Dragon X
And out came this, this fanfiction that could always be improved, and some things may or may not be clear, so feel free to leave a review or a PM so I can (most likely) edit this fanfiction and (hopefully) make it much clearer.
I'm also sorry for the horrible summary.
Thanks again!
(And enjoy!)
She used to believe that she was strong. Stronger than most in the world, as strong as anyone could be. With all those resists and that brilliant leader and active skill that would allow her to easily destroy oncoming monsters, it forced the other gods to admit that they had to fear her, for what she could do, for what she had control over.
For simply having control over an extremely high multiplier, Sakuya was stronger than all of the gods, even Zeus and Hera. Although she didn't always appreciate the attention, she did appreciate how the harder challenges in more dangerous territory was opened up to her. How it was easier to access the harder stages of the world and to destroy the monsters that awaited her, to return them to either Heaven or Hell. To completely purge the world of horror and fear, and to fix it with her power over the light.
And then the change came. Where everyone was slowly changing to become more powerful versions of herself, and even all of her dear sisters were going through evolutions to block the attacks of some elements. Unsure of what was happening, she was swept up with the changes and found herself in front of her new ability. The two arrows connected by a curve. The brilliant two-prong that would make her stronger than ever.
Sakuya even had a change in outfit. As Ceres was designing her outfit, she continued to flash smiles and mutter something about gaining attention. All she ended up with was a really shiny outfit with green and yellow lights covering the armor as she applied for a change of skill and element. She found herself facing an improved skill, one that would increase the damage that she could do to slay monsters as long as someone used their ability. She, however, kept her active skill the same. What was the point of changing it when it was still overpowered in the Puzzle World?
However, she had an enemy this time, by the name of Kali. She'd like to say that there was only one Kali that annoyed her, but that wasn't true this time. There were two that were on her nerves every time she went near them. One of them had the power of controlling two of those two-prongs, while the other was completely unbindable, compared to Sakuya. Sakuya scowled in jealousy as she watched them dodge every bind that was thrown at them, and as they gracefully moved and attacked with so much power that it was almost ridiculous.
Sakuya needed a change.
She flew to Zhou Yu first. She asked her for just a pint of her blood, enough to create the dream evolution she needed. She showed her how she improved from last time, when she asked, and Sakuya danced gracefully in the air as she dueled Zhou Yu, determined to win and to earn the necessary items to change. After ending with Sakuya winning, her opposition grinned and pulled out a needle as she extracted exactly a pint of blood.
Holding the pint of blood in her hands, she nearly forgot why she needed the blood before she remembered. Instead of sacrificing actual people (which seemed to be very common until they discovered this method), they would use blood instead, which was much better than before. She cupped the tiny bag of blood in her hands, swirling the red liquid that would contain the power to change herself.
She flew over to Fagan to ask for a pint of blood. Now, Fagan was another different story. He refused to give a pint of blood to anyone who asked, which included Yomi and Anubis. The reason why was that he had certain traits that would provide everyone with a free multiplier to their leader skill. A four time multiplier, to be exact, but he was willing to only give half of that to the person who impressed him first. Sakuya saw many people leave, looking rejected, before coming back the next year to be let down again. Anubis was one of them. With his amazing ability to control the orbs on the board, Sakuya almost expected him to be the first person to get that pint of blood. However, she was wrong. No matter how much Anubis tried to show off his ability, Fagan would refuse.
However, she hoped she had a better chance. After all, she was that person that was his favorite. He poured all of his hope into Sakuya, and she needed more hope this time compared to last time. She needed to change, to be as powerful as the other gods who were changing as well, becoming way more power than her.
The first thing she did was actually walk into the Paradise, the place where she used to reside. She bit back the tears of nostalgia as she saw the colorful flowers they all worked hard to grow, and almost all of them seemed to be slowly withering and dying. She watched as the beautiful roses were crumbling in front of her, and as they fell to the ground, petals were everywhere, being destroyed and carried away by the gentle breeze that contained so many floral scents.
She continued walking, ignoring the crunching of the petals and dried grass, until she saw Fagan. He was still his usual self. He gave off this brilliant light, and everything seemed endless around him. She smiled in relief and nearly ran up to him to give a hug, to say everything she wanted to say, but he flashed a sad smile and began with, "You want to change too?"
Sakuya opened her mouth, before closing it. She felt her eyes widen as she replied, "I'm sorry, but I must. It's necessary for the Puzzle World if everyone changes for the better. I can't stay like this, no matter how powerful I find it to be."
Fagan bit his cheek, before grinning an actual grin. "Alright then. Show me what you can do."
Sakuya was honestly afraid of this. She wasn't sure if the abilities she had were good enough for a pint of his blood. She began with the basics, which happened to be flying up into the air and showing off how she could easily fight off multiple monsters and how she could (probably) resist most of their abilities, including jammers and such. She showed how her control over the board was better than ever, and most importantly, how the two-prongs could easily destroy an enemy.
Although Fagan looked somewhat interested, he replied with, "I'm sorry, Sakuya, but this isn't enough to change. I do hope to see you soon. You have a lot of potential in you."
Sakuya bit a lip, and managed to mutter, "I understand. Goodbye." She ran out of the gardens, ignoring the crushing of the petals. She sat on the floor, muttering, "Stupid. So stupid, how could I have done it?"
She stood up, brushing the dirt off of herself and realized, Maybe I can find my true weaknesses. Like, you know, I can be bound easily. My active skill is boring, and I can't unbind anyone. Maybe I'll have to give up some of my abilities, but I don't really mind, as long as I'm…
She realized what was wrong. She nearly bounced up, and said, "I don't heal enough. I have tons of health, tons of attack, but I can't heal properly. Maybe if I can improve that, then I can remove some of my abilities, but really, who cares? I still have more to replace them."
Sakuya reached for her bracelet, which was on her right arm. It already went through multiple changes, and she fiddled with the faded silver and gold that intertwined like vines that made up the bracelet. There was a flat disk on the bracelet, and on that flat disk was her main element, which was light. On the back, there was her sub-element, and there was a faded green orb, almost as if her time as light and wood was over. She tapped the light orb, revealing a screen that showed the puzzle board (which was locked, in this case), all of her dear contacts, and, of course, her current health and statistics.
She tapped on the holographic board and clicked that she wanted to speak to a fellow friend of hers. She put the bracelet to her ear, and asked, "Hey, Valkyrie? I was wondering if you were busy or not."
"Busy? Why would I be busy, for hells sake? You're the only teammate I ever have anyways."
Valkyrie and Sakuya were sitting in the dimmed hallways of Valkyrie's dungeon. Smiling as she poured tea into Sakuya's cup, she smoothed out her flowery dress and asked, "What's wrong anyways?"
Sakuya bit her lip again. "I need to find a way to improve.'
Valkyrie clicked her tongue. "Listen, Sakuya, improvement takes time. You can't just come to me, vent about improving, and then just leave, feeling filled with more power. But you're fine enough already, with that wood element and that two-pronged. Why?"
"Kali," was all Sakuya said.
Valkyrie scoffed. "Of course. Kali. Both of them, in fact, are pains. They act like they're amazing and whatnot, when really, they are amazing. But ignoring that," she added, noting Sakuya's glare. "Both of them are somewhat different from the world. As if they were detached from the world and didn't belong here anyways."
Sakuya scowled. "Yes, well I can beat them."
"I didn't ask whether or not you can. But I can help. What do you have an issue with?" Valkyrie asked, taping a sip of her tea afterwards.
"I need you to help me raise my RCU. To help me be able to heal faster than I ever will." Sakuya replied, not even hesitating.
Valkyrie raised an eyebrow. "Are you willing to give a few of your strengths up to convert them into other strengths?"
Sakuya hesitated a bit this time. She continued to bit her cheek until she tasted blood, and that was when she replied, "Of course. I'm willing to give up anything to improve my RCU. Even if I means I have to give up parts of myself."
"Give up parts of yourself? As if you would need to." Valkyrie scoffed. "Listen, if you wanted to give up a hand or something, go to Yomi and ask her where she got her metal transformation."
"Let's not do that." Sakuya agreed.
Valkyrie put down her cup of tea and picked up her sword. "Well, I'm glad you agree. But before we work on healing, I suppose we should work on attack and appearance. You're looking awfully dull right now."
"Appearance?" Sakuya squeaked. "But I like how I look."
"But nobody else does. It's too… shiny. Besides, someone said that they couldn't tell your face from a boy's face, and that's a problem." Valkyrie pointed out. "Now let's go."
Valkyrie walked out of the abandoned stone hallway that was once filled with monsters begging for her advice, and Sakuya thought she was joking before she realized that her footsteps were slowly fading. Chugging the rest of her tea, she ran to Valkyrie, the light from her outfit leading the way.
"I'm glad you made it to the second meeting."
Sakuya was now sitting at a table, Valkyrie in front of her. However, right next to Valkyrie was another female with wings that seemed to illuminate the room. She was wearing a black jumpsuit with carefully placed holes all over the place, and she was holding a leather book that was covered in rows and rows of runes. Ancient ones that she didn't understand, but they gave her a feeling of healing and power.
"This is Metatron. Last meeting, we worked on your appearance, and I'm glad you're keeping it up. Now, we're going to focus on healing."
Sakuya sighed. Last meeting was about running everywhere to get cloth and materials to create better weapons. For some reason, even though the point of shopping was not this, she felt much more exhausted compared to the time she fought a group of pyro demons, and that was already tiring. She ran, with Valkyrie, to grab wood from the finest trees, silver and golden paint that provided magical powers, and many, many, many balls made out of silk for her hair and her weapon.
"Metatron is going to teach you about healing and unbinding, as well as the art of staying unbound." Valkyrie continued. "Although I have tried to learn it, I managed to create binds as time passed. Creating binds is something that you don't have to know, but it's slightly useful."
Metatron smiled a bit. "Of course. Creating binds is always useful in self-defense, but you can focus on creating binds that may cause a bit more issues: skill-binds. Of course, you'll have to resist them someday, but I think we should have someone else teach you that."
Valkyrie nodded. "Now I'll leave the two of you alone. May Sakuya grow to be the best god in the game."
Sakuya opened her mouth, about to say that being the best god wasn't her intention, but Valkyrie already left, and she was with Metatron in the hallway of loneliness.
"You'll be with me for a while. Now relax, and fight it off, okay?"
"Fight what off?"
Sakuya's question was answered when she felt electrifying tentacles reach for her. She began by letting it wrap around her, and realizing that they were the binds that she had to fight off. She began to kick, to squeeze the binds as hard as possible, hoping that they would snap in half. She continued to squirm until she felt them release their hold on her. Falling on the ground, she felt pain on her right arm. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine that it was just a dream, until she finally opened them and saw that nothing changed.
The first thing she saw when she looked up was Metatron's disappointed face.
One year.
It took one year for her to be powerful. One year of training with Anubis, one year of training with Metatron (who was much prouder of her ability to escape binds), one year of shopping with Valkyrie, one year of training with Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao, one year of training with Athena, one year of training with Yomi (but there was no cutting off her hands). One year of training with everyone.
And then she went back to Fagan, who seemed to be expecting her. As soon as he saw her walk into his paradise, he nodded, and she began.
The training she received with Metatron and Xiao Qiao allowed her to manipulate water. She turned around to face the decimated gardens, and with a flick of her wrist, water shot out from her hands, watering the garden. Almost immediately, the flowers began to bloom again, although nobody was able to explain why.
She turned back to Fagan and made a request.
"I'm sorry, but do whatever attacks you want. Jammers, gravities, anything. I promise I won't harm you, okay?. Not at all. Also, try not to kill me..."
Fagan smiled a bit, and it was almost as if he was glowing. He threw everything he could at Sakuya: jammers, binds, gravities, blinds, and skill binds. He threw skill reductions and just brute force at her, and she managed to deflect them all. She destroyed the binds that were all thrown at her. Even though she had a slim chance of even resisting everything, she did it. Luck was on her side.
Finally, she was considered finished.
Fagan stood up from his chair and said, "You also look much nicer now. Are you going to abandon the elements of nature and aim to exceed with the powers of water?"
"I do." Sakuya said, standing up straight. "I would like to master the abilities of light first, but water will be my next option." She even silently thanked Valkyrie for those endless hours of shopping.
"You managed to resist everything I threw at you, and even when I gave you poison, you healed up well enough to be able to fight again. Your gravity was effective, and the binds that were thrown at you were easily shaken off. Your attacks are much stronger than ever before, but did you give up your HP for that?"
"Yes. It was required that I make a sacrifice, and I made the choice to give up my health for better attacks." Sakuya replied.
"I see. You must have trained with Anubis or Bastet to gain your ability to match the orbs like that, leading to a great attack. You must have trained with Metatron and the sisters. Did you receive help from your friends?"
"Yes."
"That is what a true leader needs. Independence is not all about forcing everyone out of their lives. It is about receiving advice from others, and helping them along the way."
Sakuya remained silent. She didn't know what to say, after all.
Fagan took out a small knife and made a cut into his arm as he drew blood. His blood slowly dripped into a tiny cup, and ignoring the bleeding cut, he handed the cup to Sakuya. "Take it. You are worthy of an evolution with my blood. Now go, and surprise the world, and remember, if you ever have an obstacle that you can't seem to defeat, I will always be by your side."
Sakyua took the cup, so shocked that she couldn't think of anything to say. Luckily, she didn't have to.
Fagan flashed the brightest smile Sakuya ever saw. "Good luck, Sakuya. You will always be my brightest star."
For once, Sakuya believed that she was back in the spotlight.
She was the star again.
