This chapter dedication goes to FictionReader98 for beta-reading. Thanks a bunch, my friend!
The Last Mazoku
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Chapter 11: Scars That Never Heal
Reikai
12:40am
Enma sat behind his massive throne, his face basked in the shadows of the monstrously large room. Because of the darkness surrounding his expression, the monstrous frown that was etched into his cheeks would've been a dead give-away for what his mood was. Held firmly in his hands was a tiny sheet of paper that he'd received from his son. That, in and of itself, was a highly worrisome matter.
Millennia ago, when he'd entrusted the operating of Reikai to his young son, Enma had it abundantly clear to Koenma that only issues of extreme importance concerning Ningenkai should be brought to his attention. At that time, Enma had just begun creating and training his armies for the invasion of Makai. Enma's wrath at the youkai who dared to question and rebel against his rule had been immense. But due to the fact that the youkai who rebelled were magnitudes stronger than even him, he had eventually been forced to completely seal off Makai. And ever since then, five long centuries, he and his armies had been very slowly taking over the top most province of Makai.
If it hadn't been for the sudden rise of the Three Kings that rallied the majority of the stronger youkai together, Enma knew for a fact that his armies could've easily taken complete control of at least the top five layers of Makai. But because he feared invoking the collective wrath of the Three Kings, he had to have his soldiers slowly take land throughout the years. Enough that it wouldn't startle the Kings into retaliation.
Enma knew that his elite could easily handle the strongest of A-class, but not even his elites with all their training and combat experience could allow them to delve into the awesome powers of the S-class.
It was through his continuous schemes of eventually conquering Makai that Enma had once become acquainted with each of the Three Kings. One in particular had been a constant source of confusion to the Reikai Emperor; the great Raizen-sama, a man-eater, was trying to fight for the humans survival? Enma's spy network in Makai informed him that Raizen-sama had not eaten a human in over seven centuries, which was why he was slowly dying. And though Enma would've liked to have at least one good conversation with the ancient Mazoku, he was also anticipating his death.
Enma knew that once Raizen died, his kingdom would likely collapse. With the loss of one of the three, the more ambitious of the remaining two would most likely attack his last rival to claim complete control of Makai. And when one of them would fall, hopefully Yomi, Enma could finally order his armies to march into Makai. Though he was under no illusions to think that he could completely conquer Makai, Enma felt certain that his armies could seize a significant portion of the world before the remaining King could send his own armies to retaliate. But with help from the many barrier experts that Enma had employed, Reikai could easily throw up a newer and much stronger Kakkai barrier so that they would be able to hold their new lands more securely. At least, that was Enma's plan for the past three centuries and he was quite confident that it would work.
Now, however, he wasn't so sure.
While on a routine mission of rescuing Ningenkai from yet another insignificant group of C-class pests, Koenma's little group of misfits and criminals had found an unregistered human reiki-user in the bawls of Makai. And a powerful one if the Tantei's report was to be believed, that he'd incinerated the strongest of the C-class with only a single Reigun blast. That information by itself was only partially worrisome.
But his name was Raizen. That was very worrisome.
Early in his campaign against Makai, decades before the Kakkai barrier was erected, there had been whole communities of youkai-ningen hybrids, commonly called hanyou. Those despicable, unnatural creatures had been some of the most powerful and ferocious of all fighters of their time. They far outshined their youkai ancestors in power and strength, the sheer cruelty they could perform put even their human ancestors to shame. Enma had lost nearly his entire army hunting them down and killing every single one that they'd found evidence of. He'd even gone so far as to kill all the hanyou's family members and especially offspring to prevent the hanyou genes from spreading through humanity. It was to prevent the their cruelty and power from ever surfacing again and endangering the rest of humanity.
Many of Enma's assassins had spent their entire lives hunting down all strands of remainder hanyou blood, centuries after the last true hanyou had been slain. Now, almost two centuries since that last hanyou had been killed, Enma had finally begun to believe that he'd cleared out the taint of the youkai from the human bloodlines.
So why was this one human named after one of the Three Kings?
The sad fact of the matter was that Enma had no answer to that question. His spies in Makai had not reported anything unusual happening lately. His son, though still quite naïve in the ways of the universe in many ways, was a very competent leader. So if he was confident in his statement that there was no way a colony of human reiki-users somehow living and surviving in Makai, he was more than likely correct. That meant that Enma had only two clear choices to make at this point.
Kill Raizen or observe him.
Since the boy had actually aided in the success of the overall mission to kill the Four Saint Beasts, his motives were clearly not fueled by the darker half of the human heart. The boy had even complied to the Tantei's wish of being assigned an escort for the duration of his stay in Ningenkai. And yet, he hid the bulk of his power behind a shield that was as impervious as titanium alloy.
Either this Raizen was an extremely brilliant politician, and he was using these acts to hide his true intentions or his motives were exactly as they appeared on the surface. With humans, one could rarely know for certain until it was too late.
Even in the darkness, Enma's already deep frown grew noticeably deeper. He found that he could not justify extinguishing this boy's existence just yet. All he could do for the time being was to keep a very close eye on this boy to determine where his true allegiances lay, as quickly as possible.
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Ningenkai
5:00am
Loud explosions detonating in the midst of the Dark Forest awoke Genkai from her peaceful slumber instantly. Reflexes honed by a lifetime of fighting and training allowed the elderly woman to jump out of her futon, throw on a more sturdy gi, and sprint out into the forest to investigate the scene. All that in less than two minutes of waking.
Sprinting barefoot through the cool dirt and rough grasses, she followed her awareness to where she sensed a large amount of unfamiliar ki flaring up from seven different sources. The sheer amount of each of the seven ki was considerable, each one bordered on the same level of her own current strength. If she was forced to fight against even one opponent like that, Genkai had little doubt that a significant portion of the Dark Forest would likely be destroyed. And even she would be hard pressed to defend against seven individuals how all were the same strength as herself!
Seeing a bright blue glow emitting through the darkness ahead of her, she knew she was almost there. Jumping up into the tree canopy, she came to an abrupt halt as she surveyed the damage done. More than quarter of a kilometer of forestland had been destroyed, the trees and various plant life having been smashed or crushed. The topsoil of the forestland had been blown away from numerous explosions that were evident from the dozen or two craters that littered the area. But it was the sight before her that made her pause in interest.
That new boy that Keiko had brought up to her temple last night was in the center of the demolition zone that had once been a forest. What was his name again? Oh yes, Raizen. But that wasn't what caught her interest. It seemed that he was fighting six copies of himself all at once. He knows the Maruchi-badii?
Dressed in his usual tan gi, the seven Raizen were a chaotic jumble of bodies. They were sprinting around each other dazzling speeds that she was having a tough time following. From what she could sense, each of them seemed to have an equal amount of reiki inside their bodies. Yet one of them seemed to have a significant portion more than the other six. Focusing on this one, she quickly realized that this one most likely the real Raizen, especially since the other six were coordinating their attacks against him.
He woke me up at five in the morning for this? She realized, feeling a wave of bitterness wash over her, followed by reluctant admiration. I'm getting too old for this kind of crap.
Lifting her hand, she shot a respectably powerful Reigun bullet into their midst. She was far from surprised to see her blast was quickly blocked by the original Raizen. But because his strength was currently split between the six copies, he was unable to knock her reiki bullet aside like he'd done with Keiko's last night. Instead, he was forced to just stand there and let the energy burn itself out against his crossed arms.
Looking up to where the blast had come from, the seven Raizen all called cheerfully, "Ohayo, Obaasan!"
"Do you have any idea what time it is, dimwit?" Genkai demanded irritably from where she still stood on the tree limb.
"Ano, little after five-ten in the morning?" one of the Raizen answered, scratching his temple as he tilted his head to the side. "Why?"
"While I appreciate the fact that you're clearly trying to train," she snapped, letting her usual morning bad attitude color her voice. "I would've greatly appreciated getting another two hours of sleep in before you started making this racket!"
"Gomennasai, Obaasan!" all seven Raizen answered, bowing slightly with looks of embarrassment. "Some times I forget just how…loud my training regime can get. I'll try to keep it quieter from now on."
"See that you do," she said with a tone of finality. Turning to return back to her temple, Genkai called over her shoulder, "but since I'm already up, feel free to continue as you were."
"HAI!!"
Three instantaneous explosions of pure sound and shockwaves helped propel the old psyche into the air as she leapt back towards her waiting futon. I hope this doesn't become a routine around here in the near future, she thought bitterly. This could get very annoying.
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9:42pm
He had watched her with silent curiosity from the rooftops for nearly ten hours. It had been several hours since she'd finally left that accursed building known as the Sarayashiki Junior High School. He could tell from her various postures and body language that she had only remained in the building out necessity. Though it was even a wonder that the teachers allowed her inside the building since her 'school uniform' was not even correct one.
Almost immediately after the final bell had rang, she'd fled the building at damn near a sprinter's pace. But rather than return home, she went straight to a café and changed into her favorite outfit. Afterwards, she did a systematic beat down of every single punk who dared even approach her. Though, based on her expression, as well the responses of the boys once the fighting was over, it was clear that this was a daily occurrence for them.
But for the most part, Keiko seemed to avoid heading home. She'd even gotten herself some dinner at a restaurant not too far away from that horrid place called the mall. In fact, Keiko was seemed so determined to avoid going home that she even took out her assignments from school and began working on them. Then, as dusk began to settle upon the vast city and darkness began filling the evening sky, she finally decided to pack up and leave.
As she finally reached the backdoor of a small restaurant and house, Keiko came to a halt outside. Rather than enter, she seemed to take a long time just standing there, apparently thinking. Raizen could sense behind that door was a person, an elderly woman who was more than likely Keiko's mother. Judging from the erratic vibes her reiki aura was giving off, the woman was most likely extremely angry about something.
Turning around suddenly, Keiko looked straight up to where he was standing on a power pole. The look on her face showed neither surprise nor anger, only a deep annoyance. It made him idly curious for how long she'd been aware of his presence since he'd been taking careful steps of hiding ever since he'd entered the city, not even the buffoon had sensed him…at least he didn't think he had.
Smiling cockily, he raised his arm in greeting as she continued to throw her annoyed glare at him. Raizen had a sneaking suspicion that if they'd not been in such a populated area, she would have launched a Reigun blast straight at him. Honestly, that girl had a real problem with her temper!
Just as Keiko was about to rush up to him, the door behind her opened to reveal a slightly plump but rather plain looking woman. Her face was contorted in clear signs of anger as she spotted her daughter in front of her. Before Keiko could react, her mother had grabbed hold of the back of her shirt and hauled her forcefully inside the house, slamming the door shut behind them. Seconds later, the backroom of the house erupted with sounds of a fierce and loud argument.
So that's why she was putting off going home, Raizen realized with arched eyebrows. He knew that once long ago she had a better home and parents than he had. But it would seem that something had happened in the years since he'd left that created some kind of rift between her and her mother.
As the shouts inside the house began to escalate, Raizen shook his head and leapt away. As interesting as it was to see Keiko's daily life, an argument between a concerned parent and a temperamental child was not something he wanted to ever see again.
Bouncing from one rooftop to the next, he cut across the city at speeds that not even the fastest race car could reach. He had one last stop to make before returning to Genkai's temple for the night.
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10:00pm
It was nestled up on a hilltop, covered in trees that swayed gently in the winds of the mountain. Far from city whose lights were glowing brightly in the night off in the distance, the only sounds that disturbed the silence of the scene were those of nature. It was as peaceful a place as one could hope to find in such an overpopulated country.
It was nothing truly significant, just a large rock that was jutting out of the ground at an unnatural angle. Based on the moss and plant life that grew around the jagged boulder, one could see that this rock had been recently disturbed from its resting place some time in the recent past but had long since settled down.
Standing a respectful distance away from the boulder, Raizen crouched down and gently placed a freshly picked wild flower upon the small mound resting in the shade of the boulder. Stepping back slightly, he settled down upon his knees and bowed deeply, nearly digging his forehead into the damp earth.
Because his face was bowed, the silent tears falling from his eyes were well-hidden. Speaking out in a voice that ached with the pain of a child missing his mother, he spoke softly the same three sentences he'd said last time he had come here.
"I'm back, kaasama," he said, tears falling freely. "…I'm so sorry…Please forgive me."
Only the swaying trees were witness to Raizen's weeping over the grave of his long-dead mother.
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(Author's Note) Well, here it is. The next chapter. I hope you all like it. I wonder how many of you will spot some of the hidden and not-so-hidden things that are going on in this chapter and what they could hold for the future. I eagerly await your responses!
Kaasama--honorable mother
Maruchi--multi
Badii--body, buddy
Next chapter: Lamenting Beauty