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Title: Ayakashi
Arc 4: World of Memories
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Chapter 121 Breaking free
Mukuro's once pristine illusionary world had been all but ripped apart. Deep gouges crisscrossed the meadow, trees had been broken in half or even uprooted. The bottomless hole beside the lake still gaped, utterly dark.
It made Mukuro scowl furiously, but there was little he could do. Just keeping Daemon from simply slipping away was taking almost all his concentration, even with Reborn providing an additional distraction.
Although it galled him to think that way, Mukuro couldn't help but hope Tsuna and Chrome succeeded in their mission, and soon.
"I won't let you weaken Vongola!" Daemon snarled, hefting his scythe once more. It was the same thing he had been repeating all along — another sign of his degradation, like a broken record.
"I don't particularly care about what you consider to be strength," Reborn said coolly. "Don't worry, my student will make Vongola the strongest it has been since its founding."
Daemon's expression twisted. "Since Primo…? That weak man… It was because of him, because of his weakness, that it happened! Because of him, I—!"
He was interrupted as, suddenly, something burst up out of the lake.
Chrome gasped, her head breaking above the water's surface. In truth, she didn't really know how to swim and could only flail helplessly, struggling to stay afloat.
"Chrome!" Mukuro called out. Focusing on the illusion, he forced it to change shape, the lake bed rising up beneath Chrome's feet until she was left kneeling in shallow water.
"Ah, Mukuro-sama—," Chrome began, only to cut off with a startled shriek as Daemon appeared in front of her, his cold, twisted hand curling around her neck. Mukuro's moment of distraction had left him free to once again take partial control of their surroundings, allowing him to simply teleport to Chrome's side.
Or, rather, what Daemon grasped was the chain around Chrome's neck, and the Mist Ring hanging from it.
"I'll never hand Vongola over to you!" Daemon raged. "I won't let you win! I won't disappear!"
"Damn it!" Mukuro cursed, in a rare loss of control. "At this rate, he's going to—!"
Chrome screamed, in shock and pain, and the connection between their minds was broken.
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Chapter 122 Dead end
Gokudera bit back a startled curse as the Storm Ring on his hand suddenly flared, bright Flames bursting forth. Next to him, Yamamoto yelped as the tiny Rain Flame he had just barely managed to light flashed into something closer to a bonfire.
The other rings — Hibari's, Ryohei's — were glowing as well, though the light around them was too pale and weak to be called a Dying a Will Flame.
But it was the Mist Ring hanging from a chain around Chrome's neck that caught Gokudera's attention. There was no Flame burning from it, not Chrome's, not Mukuro's, not even Daemon Spade's. Rather, what surrounded it had no color and no shape. It couldn't be seen with sight alone.
What grasped it was a ghostly hand.
Chrome's single eye snapped open, then narrowed hatefully. One delicate hand was snatched away from the glass tank, the other swept out.
The Vindice had reacted faster than the Guardians, appearing from the shadows, but they had time for little more than taking a step toward the three in the center of the room, when power — a ghost's cold, malicious power — burst forth.
All of them — Guardians, Vindice, and Tsuna and Reborn's still motionless forms — were tossed away, slamming against the nearest wall with enough force to stun them momentarily. In that moment, Chrome was on her feet, a horribly familiar scythe appearing in her hands.
It wasn't Chrome, not really. It was Daemon, using her body instead.
The glass prison behind her had withstood the force of Daemon's attack, but a narrow crack appeared as Mukuro, awake once more, slammed his cuffed hands against it. He glared hatefully, but Daemon did not spare him even a glance.
Black chains shot out and, despite Daemon's move to dodge, wrapped around his scythe and arm. With more strength than Chrome's body would have normally held, Daemon dug in his heels and stood his ground against the Vindice pulling on the chains. However, that simply left him open for another black-cloaked enforcer to appear out of a swirl of black flames and grab him in a choke hold.
Daemon snarled, trying to struggle, but it was futile. Another portal of black flames formed, and Daemon, and the Vindice holding him, began to disappear within.
"No! Wait!" Gokudera yelled, the other Guardians doing the same, but more Vindice appeared to block their way. In his glass prison, Mukuro writhed helplessly.
"Chrome! Chrome!"
"Stop." Tsuna's quiet, firm order cut through the chaos, and his pure Sky Flames burned away the dark flame portal and the black chains. As he slowly rose and straightened, the Dying Will Flame on his forehead flared, reflecting in his eyes. "I won't let you have any member of my family," Tsuna said, to the Vindice and to Daemon Spade.
It was a promise, from the Vongola Decimo, and in that moment no one could bring themselves to doubt it.
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Chapter 123 Borrowed time
"Release Chrome," Tsuna ordered, looking straight at Daemon with a piercing gaze that seemed to see straight past his borrowed form. Daemon snarled, but Tsuna cut him off, continuing coldly, "Enough already. How much longer are you going to carry on with this pointless spectacle?"
"I won't let you have Vongola!" Daemon repeated. "I won't let you weaken and bring it to ruin!"
Silently, those gathered watched the standoff, the Guardians, the Vindice, and Reborn all poised to move the moment an opening presented itself, but all finding themselves frozen in place under Tsuna's captivating aura.
Tsuna's eyes narrowed, a rare hint of his anger and frustration even in Dying Will Mode. "You're not doing this for Vongola," he snapped. "It was never about that. Don't you even remember how this started? The reason it began, when Elena…"
"Of course I remember! I promised her I would make Vongola strong!" Daemon shouted.
In the end, Tsuna hadn't been able to bring himself to destroy Daemon's memory of that day, when he lost her. In the last moment, he had hesitated and lost his chance as the connection between them was disrupted and the world of memories fell away.
Before the others could react, Daemon attacked, his scythe swinging toward Tsuna. But this time, Tsuna was ready. His gloved hand caught the blade easily, and the Sky Flames in his palm shattered the illusionary construct.
Tsuna stepped forward, one hand coming down onto Chrome's shoulder. The girl gasped, as if startled awake, and his other hand flashed out to grasp the translucent figure that appeared behind her — Daemon Spade's ghost, forced out of Chrome's body.
"Not that," Tsuna said, his gloved hand gripping Daemon's uniform and shoving him back against the glass of Mukuro's prison, even as his Flames faded away. "Think back! What you promised her… To support Vongola! To support its ideals! To protect the people, from those that would abuse their power!"
After all, that was the first memory they had been shown — how it all began.
"And if you can't remember…" Tsuna said, his tone growing gentler, almost kind. "Then we'll remember for you — the reason Vongola was created, its purpose and what it should become. Leave it to us."
Daemon tried to shove him away, but Tsuna stood firm. Daemon, who had previously been so overwhelming, had weakened to the point where Tsuna easily overpowered him. It wouldn't be long before he disappeared completely.
"Don't worry, we won't let Vongola fall to ruin. We're not weak," Tsuna said.
"You are," Daemon snorted. But, gritting his teeth, he looked away. "You're weak. It's just that I've become weaker. How pathetic…"
"I guess that's how everyone is," Tsuna mused, smiling a little. "But we've got each other to cover for our weaknesses. That's why people shouldn't be alone. You too. You've done enough. Just rest, go to where Elena is waiting for you."
As Tsuna drew back his fist, Daemon closed his eyes, knowing he had lost. "Waiting for me? What nonsense," he murmured.
But he didn't fight as Tsuna's simple punch tore through the wavering fabric of his existence — and through the glass behind him. To a spirit, thinking, even for a moment, even faintly, "I leave it to you," was the same as death.
That was the last time they saw Daemon Spade.
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Chapter 124 In his hands
"Rokudo Mukuro will be released into the custody of the Vongola Decimo," the Vindice announced.
Tsuna was glad he had come alone this time — the Vindice's summons had allowed for no delay, and Reborn had been away at a meeting with the ninth generation and the upper echelons of Vongola. Otherwise, Tsuna would have certainly received some punishment for staring and gaping like a fish.
But he just couldn't help it. Tsuna had been working up the courage and the most persuasive arguments he could think of to use at another meeting with the Vindice, to convince them to release Mukuro, and now they were just doing it themselves? It was… suspicious.
"…For helping with Daemon?" Tsuna ventured. Reborn would have certainly called him naive, but Tsuna could hope.
The Vindice, despite having no eyes, conveyed a flat stare. "The matter of Daemon Spade was of concern to the Vongola as well," the Vindice leader said. "Your actions were toward your own benefit. Our… cooperation simply led to a mutually beneficial end."
In other words, the Vindice didn't owe them any favors.
"But," the Vindice continued, making Tsuna's eyes narrow, "on this precedent, we have judged that there is another… mutually beneficial end that you may be able to achieve."
"And this is something you don't want Reborn to know about," Tsuna guessed. Even he had realized that the Vindice's timing was no coincidence.
"This matter directly concerns the Arcobaleno," the Vindice said, spreading his tiny hands. "The information we would provide you is priceless and closely guarded. No… better to say, even its very existence is a secret known only to us and one other. Just being aware of it will draw you into a conflict beyond the scope of the mafia… and of humanity."
This was the secret of the Pacifiers that Reborn, Colonnello and Mammon always wore — and the reason why they were in those tiny forms.
Or at least that is what Tsuna guessed, looking at the tiny Vindice with a clear Pacifier around his neck.
Needless to say, Reborn would never reveal such a dangerous secret to Tsuna. By doing so, the Vindice would be putting Tsuna and anyone he chose to involve in great danger. They would be the Vindice's sacrifice, doubtless only one plan out of many, just like with Daemon. Even if they had failed, it would have been only a minor inconvenience to the Vindice, after all.
In other words, the Vindice wanted Tsuna to do their dirty work, he thought.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Tsuna let out a slow breath.
Even so, he didn't doubt that they were telling the truth about that mutually beneficial end. There was something in this that he wanted, just as much as they did. He wanted to know that secret. He wanted to help Reborn, who had started sometimes looking at them with such a strange, unsettling gaze.
This was probably his only chance.
"That's fine," Tsuna said, to the Vindice's earlier words. "I'm not a human anyway. So tell me, what is the secret of the Arcobaleno?"
Their faces were hidden, but Tsuna felt certain that they smiled.
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