Chapter 14

The day seemed like it was never going to end. Sekki and the villagers of Koya had been fighting all night and day. It seemed like forever but in actual fact, only a night and day had passed since the three had entered the void. A fight with barely any rest, a fight that decided between life and death, this was not how Sekki wanted to exercise in the first time for a hundred years. Being a Daishikou mean that he spent most of his time judging people based on the evidence he was provided. It was a very stationary job.

Sekki thrust his sword into the ground. He had never been much of a swordsman despite being coached personally by Kantai. He had never been much of a fighter to start with. Gently, he lowered himself to the ground. Blood flowed down his left thigh wound but it was not life-threatening – not many wounds were life threatening to a sage. Hence like many of the other sages that had fought to protect this void, they slumped against something, enjoying the rare moment of respite. The medics pottered around, bandaging the others that needed more.

"It is the smell that drives the youma through the void," a hollowed voice stated.

Sekki spun around in shock. He could barely recognize Kouya. Through the photos Yoko had left behind, he had guessed that he would look fairly similar, but this Kouya was far from it. His hair was dry, limp and chopped off roughly. His clothes were frayed, threadbare and filled with holes. However it was not his outfit or the state of his hair that shocked Sekki, it was his eyes that did. They were hollow, empty, void of anything and as Kouya spoke, it seemed like it was being moved by some invisible puppeteer.

Turning back to the void, Kouya walked slowly towards it. His feet shuffling and occasionally his knees would dip, causing him to sag against the large tamed youma that he called Chiisai-no. He motioned to Chiisai-no who lowered its body so Kouya could lift the corpses of the youma onto itself.

Sekki watched all this with disbelief. It was quite clear this man, Kouya, had expected something like this to have happened for he had not been a least bit surprised at the void or the youma. The sword that lay across his shoulders was dirty with grime from a long and hard journey rather than blood dried from killing youmas. If he took the explanation of travelling hard to reach here, perhaps then it might just fit. Other than the strange feeling, there was nothing else Sekki had to go on with.

"Kouya-" he called out before he could register. "Do you believe what they are doing is right?"

That was all Sekki had wondered. The man paused in mid-step. There was an inscrutable expression on his face as he turned his face ever so slightly.

"There is no right and wrong, only what needs to be done," he replied in that monotonous voice of his and without even blinking, he pulled his sword from its coverings and slewed the Kochou. With that, he entered the void leaving Sekki with much to muse about.

The kirins were seized with incredible emotion gripping their hearts. They stopped in their motions, gripping their chests. It felt like something was rapidly following through their bodies or was it out, they could not really tell. They had to obey, an order far more important than even their masters. The magic in their horns shuddered, it screamed and hollered. And with a thought to what they were doing, they reverted to their beast forms, soaring through the airs, following the insistent feeling.

All these were so for the kirins that remained in 12 kingdoms. For Shunrin and Keiki, it was different.

The man that had sat in the car for hours had decided to come and check on the two. He was desperate not to let them go and hurried along the direction that he saw them take. What he saw surprised him even more so than seeing Kantai and Yoko fall from the sky. A girl with fiery hair stood beside a tall blonde man. Both stood far behind the carnage, their sleeves covering half of their faces. Beasts seemed to appear from nowhere. Beasts fought beasts. Their claws tearing through each other's hides, their fangs that seemed the length of his arm sawed through their necks. He could hear the almost audible crack before the beast lay limply between the beast's mouth.

An irrepressible quaver ran through him as he approached them. These beasts were as large as horses. No, they were even larger than horses. It was amazing that none of the authorities had yet to notice them yet, even if you factored out the din that they were making.

Looping around the abandoned houses, he finally made his way to the pair.

"What are they?" he asked, in a low voice.

They whirled around, clearly having not noticing his presence. The blonde man merely frowned before returning to watch on the carnage. The red haired lady eyes widened surprised.

"Naoki?" the words had barely left her mouth before she regretted it.

He frowned at her. The way she had said his name was truly nostalgic and despite being illogical, the only rational explanation for why she knew him would be that she knew Amaya. She looked nothing like Amaya.

Then came the light; the uncontrollable surge of magic and then the shuddering of it.

The two kirins fell, their bodies convulsing. Her nails dug into the ground as she struggled to maintain her human form. The desire to transform and soar towards the call was overwhelming.

"Hisaoki! Take this man away," she commanded her nyokai as the last fragments for her control began to disappear.

"Master!" the blond kirin cried out. In his heart was filled with the dread and fear for his master. He could feel her very soul being in danger and her cries. He leapt. His body turning lighter as he soared, he ran. The wind blowing through his flowing mane, he ran with weightless grace. As fast he could, as fast as his four legs would take him, he ran.

The void was now a blanket of light.

What have they done? Shoukei had considered the possibility that the only choice to sever the connection between both realms would be to destroy this land. However the more she thought of it, the more she realized the need for realms, heaven and hell. It was in a perfect balance. Each supporting each other, each relying on each other. You cannot sever such an important connection just because the deaths of a million people would be reflected on both sides. It was like destroying the mirror because you hated the you on the other side. Yoko and Shouryu had been going about it wrongly. There must be better ways to fix this balance than to simply cut its connection. Without this balance, both realms would crumble. This was not a million lives anymore. It was hundreds of millions, billions of people. Everyone was going to die.

Keiki could feel the pure terror plunging through him as he ran into the light. The magic in his horn surged and shuddered. He could feel it under his skin the wrongness of all this. Would he be struck down by the god? He didn't know and he didn't care. All he wanted to do was to be beside his master. She was a gentle soul, stern with her ministers and always wanting her people to be better people. Kings of themselves, a nation full of kings.

He ran as fast, as far as he could. There was nothing but an endless light. Suddenly, from the light a figure appeared. It was not Yoko. The figure of a horse, its graceful legs, its flowing mane shimmered as it stepped from the light.

Keiki could not recall any kirin that looked that. There was no kirin that was so unbearably beautiful. Its mane had no words to describe its shade except the word iridescent. Its pelt could only be described as a pelt of pure light and its horn was not any kirin's horn. It was not a single horn, but two horns very much like deers. They were long and limber, arching towards the sky. Its large eyes fluttered open. There was a profound darkness in its eyes in perfect equilibrium to its pelt of light.

Involuntarily, Keiki step back when it moved towards him. Its hooves chiming like bells of glass as it tapped across the plains of light.

Keiki.

Keiki could hear his name form at the back of his head, the way a kirin's voice would register to one in beast form. He could feel the tingle of pure joy shiver down his spine. Why was he reacting this way to anyone but his master? Keiki was confused. It did not make any sense. Where was his master?

Yoko fell to the ground. Though she tried to repress it, she found it was impossible to stop her trembles. Then it was like the storm clouds cleared, a ray of sun from the endless days of rain. Yoko found the pressure at the back of her head was gone. All that remained was the agonizing guilt that seemed to crush her body.

What have I done?

She turned around to check on the people that had so loyally believed in her and followed her only to realize that she was alone.

"Shoukei!? Kantai!?" she cried out. Had she truly killed Ranjoku? That man was practically her son. She had watched him born; take his first steps, taught him to fight. He was smart and keen, always there to give sound advice.

She had killed the boy she had always treated to be her son. The grief was impossible to bear. Tears fell down her face.

Don't cry my dear Kei Queen.

She looked up in surprise. There had been no one there. Now a solitary figure stood in front of her, yet all she could see was his silhouette for the light was too blinding to make out his features. He moved closer to her, reaching a hand out. He was beautiful beyond belief. Yoko could spend an eternity trying to describe this man, but there were simply no words in any language that was capable of capturing the shadow of his beauty. Neither man nor woman, neither beast nor human, yet he is all of them. A sense of familiarity fell upon her as she allowed herself to be pulled up.

I apologize.

What did he do to deserve to beg for forgiveness? Yoko's mind could not comprehend the possibility of him doing anything wrong. Rather, Yoko could not do anything but gaze gingerly on his beauty. He sighed audibly, his form shifting. Now the man that was once called Shouryu stood before her.

Perhaps this form is better?

The man said, his head tilting in askance.

It was not my wish to create such a system. They were created to be independent of each other. But things progressed as it did and I was no longer in control of one realm. Without the full control of both realms, I was no longer able to pull them apart.

He spoke plainly. There was grave sadness in his words as he did.

I hope you forgive me for what you and Shouryu had gone through. In order to separate them, I had to find two halves of a soul bound together so tightly that neither death nor birth will separate them. Both pure and honest. They had to have gone through a thousand of rebirth cycles through both realms. Shouryu was easy as he was born in an era of war, but you-

A wryly smile tugged at the edges of his lips as he pulled a strand of Yoko's tangled hair free.

Your soul took a two hundred years loop. And I lost track of you, so I had to mark you to find you.

He tapped the blue jade that her left hand had absorbed.

I bestowed this on Shouryu. There was nothing I could do to stop the time of death. The system that ran wild would no longer allow my interference save for the necessity. I thank you for struggling so hard for something that I should have done.

He kissed her chastely on the forehead, the same way Shouryu had done so when he left.

Now, the systems are finally separated.

"Does that mean that no more eggs will be lost in the storms?" Yoko asked.

He nodded his head.

No more Taikas, Kaikyaku or Sankyaku. No more lost kirins, lost kings. No more lost history, no limiters.

Yoko fell into deep thought as she reflected on this piece of news. Soon the idea of Taika kings would be a relic of the past. She and the Shun King would be relics of the past yet if there were no more limiters would that mean that more kings would live beyond 80s? Yoko sank further into thought, considering its implications on Kei, but before she could go even further, the man tugged her out of her train of thoughts.

Nakajima Yoko, I bestow on you 1 wish as I had done so for Shouryu. Making note that I cannot bring the death back for that would cause much too many instability, what do you wish for?

There was nothing Yoko wanted besides what he could not give. So she did not ask.

"There is nothing I want," she replied and her reply seemed to please him.

He tapped the blue jade again. His eyes were shining, as his hair was. His whole body was glowing, fading into the blinding light.

You will see him again. If you stay true to the way, if you are stern with yourself as you are with your ministers. In a few decades or few hundred years, you'll see him again.

The light was draining out now, the colours of the world returning to the way it should have. Yoko could see the trees above her; the light that fell from the trees was not the same glorious light that she was bathed in just moments ago. She was back in 12 kingdoms. She could feel it in her bones.

And as she took a deep breath of the clear air of Kei, she could hear faintest echo of a brilliant voice.

I promise.

A/N: There is still another chapter more that will basically tie everything loose up. Also you might have noticed that there's Shunrin and Naoki. Because the already complicated plot.. I decided to drop most of it entirely except its barest so it doesn't seem that weird.