Omake 10: Spiders are misunderstood creatures.
Yohko had always known that she was a Master for the Zodiac Trials, there was no way anyone could prove it other than by summoning a MEGAMI. Only the Master would know it simply by just knowing it and that was all. But Yohko had no wishes, she didn't want anything nor desired anything fulfilled other than to sate her lust for knowledge by the never-ending pursuit of more knowledge until death finally comes. She also didn't wish knowledge instantly either hence why she didn't want to wish for that rather she wanted to live with the feeling of wanting to know more and for the momentary satisfaction that came with it. Which was why she wanted to know the true nature of the Gods and their MEGAMI and to that end she desired to summon her own MEGAMI even though she had no intention of fighting only studying.
It became ironic thus that the MEGAMI that she summoned was Alexander the Great probably the one MEGAMI in history who wanted to fight and conquer the most. She summoned Iskander using a wheel from the divine ox chariot she acquired by the cutting the Gordian Knot and becoming the King of Asia Minor. It was a large red and black wheel made of a higher order metal and it served as the perfect catalyst for summoning her.
Yohko's first impression of history's greatest conqueror was mixed, she was expecting a woman knowing what MEGAMI were and about history's sexism and most likely one that was quite manly. What she got was just that, Alexandria was noisy, masculine and a hard drinker something which Yohko held in common making them great friends. Funnily enough one of the purported possible causes of Alexander's death was liver failure from excessive drinking at age 33. She designated herself as Arbiter and by her drunken rambles Yohko more or less confirmed 'death by drinking'. She also found out that she got the title Arbiter from Iskander's apparent desire to bring peace and balance to world by conquering it all.
She even wanted to try again and was much enthused when Yohko showed her how big the world really was. 'When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain she wept for there were no more worlds left to conquer'. That was the quote Yohko best remember of Alexandria even though she like no one knew where exactly it came from. She decided to call Alexandria Midori and added the name Sigiura after an old friend. Midori meaning green suited the 'green' conqueror who knew nothing of the modern world until Yohko taught her. She had a voracious appetite for knowledge and they quickly became best friends. Which was probably what became their Achilles' Heel.
Yohko was conducting more research alone on Ichors by studying the axe Farsha Midori's favorite weapon which the Macedonian lent to her. The ancient general on the other hand was busy studying geography so she could make battle plans. Yohko confident in her laboratory's defenses both mundane and magical never saw Nao coming. The red-head managed to sneak and bypass all of Yohko's defenses and teleported right behind her slashing off her arm with her Loom wires before the mage could even react. Before Yohko could respond a blinding pain shot through her body then nothing, a poison that paralyzed her. She screamed for a second then froze her mouth agape in pain. Nao picked up the arm severed at the shoulder and inspected the seal on it emblazoned on her upper arm near the shoulder.
"Yohko what happened?" Midori demanded as she burst into the room Ichors at the ready.
She caught sight of her Master then at her attacker and was about to attack when Nao stopped her.
"Wait, I put a magical poison in her if you kill me I won't be able to dispel it," she explained calmly.
Midori had no power to sense these kinds of things but the sight her Master who was like a corpse frozen in rigor mortis with barely the sound of a breath or heart beat forced her to submit. She couldn't risk it.
"Good," Nao praised. "I won't be long, just hang on a minute."
"Promise me…you won't kill her," Midori begged as she put away her weapons and fell to her knees begging.
Nao seemed to consider her for a moment then agreed.
"Sure," she replied casually.
Setting up a ritual circle Nao got to work transferring the Seals from Yohko's arm onto her own. The process was hurried taking seconds not minutes as it had with Mai and Tate, the Seals quickly pealed off Yohko's severed arm and crawled onto Nao. But by speeding up the process the arm was consumed in white flames as a result and rather than branding themselves on Nao's arm like a flu jab it crawled into her mouth and burned itself on her tongue. Nao screamed until the burning stopped, tears at her eyes then finally chuckled and made a snappy comment.
"Ouuww! Thalkc boatt ua nrastry dunge beircing," she dryly joked.
Nao exhausted turned to Midori who now stood before her awaiting her new Master's promise. With a smile Nao gave her a vial containing a blue dust she pulled out of thin air.
"Sprinkle this on her and she'll be fine."
Midori did as ordered and indeed Yohko awoke from her catatonic state moaning in agony from her wound until Nao shot her full of pain-killers and got to work treating her wound with magic and medical aid.
"As promised I won't kill her," Nao smirked.
Midori couldn't help but smile, although she now hated this woman for what she had done to her Master she couldn't but respect this woman's sense of honor.
Nao eventually finished patching up the older mage when suddenly the wall of the lab she was in exploded. Nao shielded Yohko from the debris with her wires and out of the smoke came two figures; Guardian and Sergay.
"Hand over your Seals now or die!" Sergay demanded.
"If you want them come and get them," Nao beckoned.
"Guardian kill the MEGAMI, I'll take of the mages."
"Hai, Master," the Chinese General complied and attacked Arbiter.
The battle was brief, Arbiter being the superior warrior pushed back Guardian forcing her to retreat. Sergay attacked Nao and Yohko and even attempted to kill her while she was unable to defend herself. Nao protected her however and earned herself a black eye, a bloody forehead and a very unbecoming scorch mark on her back. Despite this however she didn't show a hint of suffering and even carried Yohko to a bed.
"You can take care of yourself right?" Nao asked.
"Yeah…I can…" Yohko complied.
"Good, Hey Midori. Say some last words to your old Master then we're leaving."
Midori had one last conversation with the avid researcher then left with her new Master.
"I asked you to promise not to kill her not to save her."
"Yeah, well I'm sick of that movie cliché."
Like Midori Yohko had to admit she quite respected the mage who had beaten her not just because she had beaten her proving her superior skill but also because of her strong sense of honor.