34th Dusk: Priorities
"So, Dylan, we meet again." General Marian Cross spoke calmly to Dylan, as if it were the most natural occurrence.
Composing himself, Dylan replied, "I guess it has, why did you want to see me." He asked.
In response though, Cross held up his hand as if to say stop there. "First things first, we must tend to the young lass." He said, pointing to the injured Jamie in Dylan's arms. "Come bring her over here. Sanzo, get some first-aid supplies from inside."
"Yes, Master." Sanzo bowed to Cross and went inside the small house.
Dylan brought Jamie to the porch and set her against a wall, looking at her wound. "It doesn't look fatal, that's good." General Cross said, looking at Jamie as well. "First, we'll need to disinfect it." He said, and then took one of the many bottles of alcohol he had and held it to Jamie's wound, slowly pouring it over the injury.
Jamie cringed a bit from the stink of the alcohol on her open wound, but bared through it as Sanzo came out with the medical supplies. "Jamie, are you alright?" Dylan asked.
Jamie in response looked at Dylan. "I'm fine. It was just a bit of a shock." She told him.
It made sense, for Jamie, this was the first major injury she had in her life that went beyond scraps, bruises, or small cuts. Because of that, her threshold for pain was likely much lower than someone's like Dylan's who has been exposed to pain on a regular basis. "Okay then," General Cross spoke. "Sanzo here is going to treat you little lady. But I'm going to need you to deactivate your Innocence while he does."
"What?" Dylan interjected. "Why would she do that?"
"It's alright, my Innocence can only harm Akuma." Jamie told them.
"Well, that's the problem. Sanzo is an Akuma; one I've converted to obey me."
"What!?" Dylan shouted out without really thinking, and then pulled his Innocence and pointed it at Sanzo, who stepped back and put his hands up defensively. "You're an Akuma."
Calmly, Sanzo replied. "Yes, but as Master Cross just said, I have been converted by him. I am no longer your enemy."
"Calm down, boy." General Cross said. "Sanzo is not a threat to you or the Order anymore. He only obeys my commands, and should the time come when the conversion effect wears off, he is set to self-destruct immediately." He explained, although Dylan still stood with his sword pointed at Sanzo. "There is no need to worry, Dylan."
Dylan continued to stare at Sanzo as if waiting for him to screw up and attack just so he would have an excuse to destroy him. But after a moment more he took a breath and lowered his weapon, putting it back on his side. "Fine, I'll believe the General." He said with an unaccepting tone, and then nodded to Jamie to drop her Innocence.
Jamie did so, the white light vanishing from her body and then Sanzo leaned down to wrap some bandages around her wound while Cross spoke with Dylan. "So General, what is it you wanted to speak with me about?"
"Right," Cross began, setting down a glass of wine in his hand. "Dylan, why is it you are here in Edo? Surely you must have a specific reason for coming all this way?"
To answer, Dylan held up his Innocence. "I'm tracking someone. A Noah by the name of Tyki Mikk." He said, pointing out the sparks emitted by his Innocence. "By injecting tiny fragments of my Innocence into his arm that even he is unable to notice, I can use the main body of my Innocence to track the fragments. Eventually, I found myself at the coast of China, learned about the Exorcists that came here and did so myself, in pursuit of the Noah."
"So your reasons for coming here are your own? You did not come here for the Order?" Cross confirmed.
"No, but I have made the decision that once I kill Tyki Mikk, I will return to the Order." Dylan told the General, who only knew of the Dylan that had no desire to be found by them. "When we first met, you asked me if I had something against the Order and I told you no. The real reason I left was because of my Innocence's prophecy. But now I'm past that and want to return."
"I see... let me ask you Dylan; are you aware of the entire situation here in Edo?"
"No, I've only seen the giant Akuma fighting and other Level 3's saying that the Earl wanted the Generals in Edo found."
"Well then I'll tell you what's happening. Right now, the Millennium Earl is here in Edo; as well as a number of other Noah, including the one you are searching for."
When told this, Dylan's eyes went wide. "The... Earl is here?"
"Yes, I am here on a mission to destroy the Akuma Egg, which is how the Earl creates Akuma. Right now, a number of others have come to Edo and have gotten caught up in a battle with those giant Akuma you see." Cross explained, and the two of them looked over at the huge monsters. "I' will need to head to them soon, but what will you do; now that this young girl with you is injured? And while we're on the subject, who is she anyways?"
"Her name is Jamie; she the daughter of another Exorcist named Suman Dark whom I've met and found to be an Accommodator of Innocence. She's been traveling with me ever since." Dylan explained.
"Although I more forced myself onto him." Jamie said from the side, listening into their conversation as Sanzo finished wrapping her wound. "Um, Mister General, do you know my Papa?" She asked.
"Unfortunately, I don't." Cross answered. "I haven't been back to Headquarters in many years, so I don't even know of a man named Suman Dark." Of course that made sense. Suman had only been in the Order for a few months longer than Dylan, and General Cross had been absent from Headquarters for even longer than that, so of course he didn't know about all the Exorcists joining Order or the one's dying. "So I'll ask my earlier question again; What do you plan to do now?"
Now, Dylan looked down and thought about that question. He had already established that Jamie's safety needed to come before everything else and that he had to get her out of danger immediately. Right now, there was a large group of Exorcists in Edo fighting. Among them, two here were Generals, the strongest the Order had to offer, so surely they could handle the situation here without him, right? But then again, here as well were a number of Noah, who were the leaders and creators of the Akuma, including the Millennium Earl himself.
"If you are worried about the other Exorcists who are currently here, don't be." Cross interrupted Dylan's thoughts, apparently realizing what his concerns were. "The number of capable Exorcists in Edo right now has exceeded usual amounts, and if anything goes wrong, I will also be here."
The General sounded incredibly confident on this matter, even going so far as to not include himself in the original equation of the Exorcist's success, basically saying he is a last resort that shouldn't need to be used. Hearing that made Dylan feel reassured, and so he looked back up at Cross.
"I need to get Jamie out of here. She can't even fight against a Level 3 properly yet because her Innocence is too weak. Can I leave the Exorcist's here to you?" Dylan asked.
At that question, Cross smirked. "Ah, you can leave it to me." He answered.
"Good," Dylan said, and then walked over to Jamie, picking her up.
"Oh, Dylan it's alright. I can walk now." Jamie argued, but Dylan didn't care and continued to carry her.
"Also General, can I ask you to do me a favor?" Dylan asked.
"What is it?" Cross inquired into the nature of the favor.
"Could you keep us a secret from the Order still? I will return to the Order myself, but I don't want them knowing about me yet."
Hearing the request, Cross grinned. "Don't worry, I wouldn't tell them about you anyways." He told Dylan.
"I see, well, can I also ask this of you? If you see the Noah named Tyki Mikk, kill him."
Once more, Cross smirked at the question in a way that looked like he found it amusing. "Very well. If I see him, I will kill him for you."
Just then, something strange happened to one of the two monstrous Akuma in the distance. The giant Akuma looked as if it was caught in some kind of net and was bent into a strange position. Only seconds after that, the entire head of the giant collage of Level 3's was cut clean in two from one attack. The sight surprised Dylan and Jamie, and they looked at where it feel for a moment before Cross commented.
"You see? I told you the number of capable Exorcists here was staggering." Cross told Dylan, showing him he had nothing to worry about with leaving, and then stood up, for some reason placing his hat on one of the chickens surrounding the small house, and made to go toward the battlefield.
"Wait!" Jamie spoke and stopped General Cross from leaving, who turned back to her as she got Dylan to put her down and she walked to the General. "Thank you for this General." She said, putting out her left hand to shake his.
Smiling at her, Cross took her hand, but then noticed a large ring on her thumb and stopped. "Young lady, may I ask where you got this ring?" He asked Jamie, holding her hand up to show off the ring.
Looking at it, Jamie answered. "We found it in the debris of a ship we found on our way here. It seemed like this was important somehow, so I kept it." She said, looking slightly saddened from recalling the scene.
After looking at the ring another moment, Cross spoke again. "I see, it is certainly beautiful." He stated, smiling down on Jamie once more before letting go of her hand and turning away again. "Sanzo!"
"Yes, Master?" The Akuma replied in response to Cross' shout.
"I want you to accompany these two." He told Sanzo, which surprised Dylan and Jamie quite a bit. "See to it you keep them safe, and listen to their orders. Understood?"
"Yessir!" Sanzo replied immediately.
"Wow, wait a second!" Dylan cut in, not very comfortable with the idea of having an Akuma with him all the time, even if it was converted to fight for them.
"Dylan," Cross spoke, stopping Dylan from arguing, and half turned his head to look at him. "Soon, the Order is going to need strong Exorcists like you. I can tell you will be important in the future; so take Sanzo and use him for your goals. I'm sure you'll find him most useful."
As Cross said this to Dylan, a new development happened at the battle in the distance. A huge orb of energy grew out and expanded to envelop a huge area, and detonated without quite reaching where the thy were, but what it had covered was instantly wiped out into a flat plain.
"The main battle here is about to begin. I suggest you leave here as quickly as possible to avoid getting caught up in it yourself." Cross added, and then began walking toward the battlefield, leaving Dylan and Jamie with Sanzo.
Once he was gone beyond the trees, Sanzo spoke. "Well, you heard the Master, I'll be going with you guys then."
Dylan looked back at him, a look of disapproval crossing his face, but he accepted it anyways, trusting in General Cross. "Alright, we need to hurry then." He said, and then picked Jamie up despite her complaints and they began running back toward the ocean to get out of Edo and into safety.
Sanzo lead them, stopping them a few times along the way in order to keep other Level 3's still searching for General Cross from finding them. Knowing now that Sanzo was an Akuma himself, it made sense how he seemed to realize when they were about to pass before they could be seen or heard. Originally he had just thought that with this many Akuma in one place, any human's left must have just learned how to hide themselves in order to survive.
But on their way back, something else happened to the fast changing scenery of Edo. The sky suddenly began to break apart with the appearance of puzzle pieces. This odd change in the sky and what it revealed stopped Dylan in his tracks to look at it in awe and wonderment. "What... is that?" He asked, half aiming his question at Sanzo who may actually know the answer.
Jamie as well, looked upon the giant white cube in the sky in amazement. Their eyes were only taken away from it by Sanzo supplying them with the answer to what exactly the thing was. "Noah's Ark." He stated the name of the object in a monotone voice. Jamie and Dylan looked at Sanzo upon hearing the familiar term they knew from the bible and listened as Sanzo continued. "The base of operations of the Noah clan, 35 years ago it was disabled and ever since stuck in Edo.
"That is why this country has become the housing of Akuma that reach Level 3, and why Japan became closed off to the rest of the world." Sanzo continued. "Currently, the Earl is in the process of completing the download of this Ark to a new one. And it has been revealed like this because there's not much time left before its done."
Dylan looked up at the Ark for a moment and then checked his Innocence. As he thought, he found the sparks were pointing directly at Noah's Ark, meaning that Tyki Mikk was definitely on that structure right now. He was so close to Dylan, and yet completely out of reach.
But then an idea popped into Dylan's head that hadn't been a possibility until now. "Hey Sanzo," He began, without looking away from the Ark. "If I... entrusted Jamie to you; could you get her out of Edo on your own?"
It was obvious what Dylan was thinking with that question. Jamie couldn't stay in Edo no matter what, so Dylan had to get her out as quickly as possible. But now that Sanzo was helping them, he could take Jamie out of Edo himself, which would then allow Dylan to stay and fight with the Exorcists here, and then afterward get back to Jamie and head to the Order with the other Exorcists as originally planned.
However, when asked that question, Sanzo replied with a sigh. "It's useless." He said, to which Dylan looked at him confused. "You can't get into that Ark anymore, it's just been locked down for the final part of the download."
"What, then why is Tyki Mikk still in there?" Dylan asked, since if there was no way in or out, he would be trapped inside.
"Another of the Noah have the capability of getting them out once it is needed. As for why he is there at all, it seems that a number of the Exorcists have been drawn into the Ark just before locking it down with the intention of letting them die with its collapse."
"What!?" Dylan asked apprehensively.
"Don't worry, Master Cross has a plan, and had made his way onto the Ark as well. He can stop the Ark's download and save the Exocists, so you don't need to worry about this battle. You're priority should be getting out of Edo as soon as possible."
Dylan didn't like it, but Sanzo was right. If Dylan couldn't even get into the Ark, then there was nothing he could do now. All he could do is get Jamie to safety and hope that General Cross came through for the rest. "...Alright." Dylan finally said. "Let's get out of here." And with that, the group continued to move for Edo's shore.
But when the three of them were about to finally reach the shore, Sanzo, who was leading them, stopped suddenly in his tracks and dropped to his knee. Assuming it must be more Akuma that were near, Dylan dropped to his knee and he and Jamie kept silent as bet they could.
But at the same time Dylan looked out to try and see what the situation was, and when he did, it was worse than simply Level 3's about to pass by. Rather, there were two Level 3 Akuma standing at the shoreline over the broken remains of a rowboat, which Dylan and Jamie had seen coming in and assumed the other Exorcist must have used to close the remaining gap to Edo after the ship they were originally traveling in was destroyed somehow, having passed its carnage on their own way in.
But most importantly, the two Level 3's appeared to be looking over in their direction, like they had been noticed. The thought made Dylan extremely nervous, and then he looked over at Sanzo only to see that he also had a nervous expression on his face, meaning the thought that the other two Akuma had noticed them seem all the more likely.
But still they remained as still and silent as possible in the hopes the two Akuma might overlook their presence. But even like that, the thoughts running through Sanzo's head were not pleasant ones. (Damn it, they noticed someone's here. If we try to move away now, they'll be sure of it and attack. But we can't well attack with the young lady as she is. We're stuck between a rock and a hard place here with no way out...)
But then Sanzo's thought were interrupted by a whisper from behind him. "Sanzo," Dylan spoke to Sanzo with as light a voice as he could use as Sanzo turned to see him placing Jamie lightly onto the ground. "If those Akuma get past me, you are to protect Jamie with your life."
Dylan said this, which obviously meant he planned to attack the Level 3's on his own. But before Sanzo or Jamie could even raise voice in opposition of this plan, Dylan used the metal plates of Innocence on his feet to burst him forward and out of hiding. At the moment he did, the two Level 3 Akuma in front of him saw him, but Dylan hoped that he would be able to at least take out one of them with the surprise strike like he had against the first pair he had attacked coming into Edo and make the battle just that much easier.
However, Sanzo had to hold himself back from shouting out and revealing there were more than one person hidden in an attempt to stop Dylan because he already knew that there was something wrong about the two Akuma at the shore. Akuma could sense the presence of other Akuma, they had to so they would know who in a crowd was an Akuma and who were the humans that they were meant to kill. An Akuma could repress their presence if it became necessary to even stay hidden from other Akuma, but even after Sanzo saw those two, he could not sense their presence at all. Even if they were repressing it, if the Akuma were in direct view like they were here, Sanzo should have been able to sense at least something from them, but that had not been the case here; so he knew that Dylan had just launched himself straight into a trap, even if he didn't know exactly what kind of trap it was.
But the kind was soon made plainly transparent when Dylan swung his sword across the bodies of the two Level 3 Akuma. First off, neither one had even twitched in reaction to Dylan and just stood there like statues. And then, once Dylan's sword had cut through them, no blood was spilled. Rather, Dylan's Innocence past through both of them like they were made out of air.
Dylan was stunned, but he didn't even have a chance to think through the possibilities of what it could mean before the two Akuma in front of him faded out like illusions, and then another Akuma, likely the perpetrator of this trick, ran out from behind nearby cover and grabbed Dylan's shirt collar before he could react and threw him straight up into the air.
Dylan went high into the air over the trees, and when he did saw a second Akuma also jump up into the air to be level with Dylan. "Idiot Exorcist. You should just die and rot!" The Akuma told Dylan, and at the same time swung its leg through the air in Dylan's direction.
The Akuma did not move close enough to actually hit Dylan with that kick, but instead, a slice of Dark Matter ran through the sky, making to cut Dylan in two. When Dylan, saw this, he immediately made to avoid it by pushing himself out of the way using the plates at his feet. Dylan was instantly shot out of range of the Dark Matter attack and then spun himself over and balanced in mid air on the plates.
Slowly but surely, Dylan was beginning to get used to fighting in mid air with the plates on his feet, and was beginning to learn how to balance on them in a short time without difficulties. This fighting method he had come up with in a desperate attempt to combat Tyki Mikk in Barcelona was starting to become one of the best techniques he could use in battle with Akuma who could levitate and fly around in the air out of his usual range.
Once he had gotten balance in mid air, Dylan shot himself toward the Akuma that was also in the air and changed his Innocence into the form of a heavy axe. But Suddenly on his way in that direction, the Akuma that had thrown him into the air just appeared in front of him out of nowhere. In surprise, Dylan reflexively stopped and pulled himself back, but almost immediately afterward realized he had been duped a second time.
The illusion faded away and Dylan looked back to see the first Akuma fly up and grab him from behind, wrapping his arms around Dylan to restrain him. "Well look here, the Exorcist can fly. Let's ground this bird." The Akuma said.
Once it had, it gripped Dylan's shirt again and spun him around before Dylan could do anything against him and threw him hard at the ground. Dylan tried to keep himself airborne with the plates on his feet, but it wasn't enough leverage against the force of the Akuma's throw. So instead, Dylan pointed his Innocence at the ground and morphed it into a spiked tip and extended it to stab into the ground, giving it some elasticity like a a pole vault rod and it kept him from hitting the ground.
Afterward, Dylan used the stretched back Innocence and the plates on his feet to shoot him back up at the Akuma like a catapult and morphed his weapon into a spear. He stabbed the spear at the Akuma, but it didn't back down and grabbed Dylan's spear with its bare hand and stopped Dylan. But then Dylan acted and sent a jolt of electricity through his Innocence and shocked the Akuma.
The shock completely caught the Akuma off guard, but after a second it let go and flew back to get away from Dylan. Dylan was about to chase after it, but the second Akuma flew forward to take its place and swung one of its legs once it past its partner. Like the first time, a wave of Dark Matter flew out toward Dylan with the swing of the Level 3's limb, but this time Dylan morphed his Innocence into a shield and blocked the attack. It didn't dissipate immediately, so Dylan used his shield and deflected the path of the energy wave away from him and then charged at the Akuma to close the gap between them and morph his Innocence into a sword again, swinging the blade at the Akuma's throat.
But the Akuma was too fast and ducked below the attack. It was about to strike Dylan like that, but Dylan moved first this time and lifted one of his feet to show the electrified plate on its sole and kicked the Akuma in its face. The Akuma was shocked by the electrified plate and struck down toward the ground, but it quickly caught its balance and flew back up beside its partner.
For a moment the battle froze and both sides just looked at each other, scoping the other out with what they had just learned of their powers to formulate a plan. "Damn Exorcist." The Level 3 that could make illusions growled. "This guy is going to give us more trouble than he's worth Nagasaki." He added, referring to his partner by its name.
"We just can't hold back then. We'll finish this before Noah's Ark has completed its download." The Level 3 by the name of Nagasaki replied.
"Hee, sound's like a plan to me."
"We'll teach this Exorcist what happens when he tries to pick a fight with us, Hiroshima."
Meanwhile, Sanzo watched the battle between those Level 3's and Dylan with a nervous sweat dripping down his face. He knew this wasn't a good idea, but it wasn't like they had a better one from the get go. Sanzo wanted to do something to help, but Dylan had told him to protect Jamie at all cost, and only fight if the Akuma got past him. Cross had told him to follow Dylan's and Jamie's orders, and so Sanzo could not disobey even if he wanted to.
He had been given the priority of keeping Jamie safe above all else, and so protect her he would, hoping it wouldn't become necessary.