Legendary Adventurers, Futuristic Saviors

Chapter 34: Evil in the Mountains; Fire and Rock in Shadows pt.2

The Mountain

Deep Within It

Deep within what appeared to be a castle built into the belly of the castle, movement was being made. Within there was the two mercenaries that accompanied the Princess, Yashahime. The girl called Salka, who sat rather unenthusiastically at what was left of the throne, as she sat on it like a bed. Her partner, Sechs, was whistling some sort of tune, as he paced back and forth in front of her, flipping a rifle in his hand like a baton or a cane. The two were obviously getting bored with something, as they heard groans and moans of pain, almost as if someone was being tortured at the moment. Which there were others being tortured, as Salka looked to the sight before them.

There in front of them, dangling on chains like stringed up cows, were three individuals chained by the wrists and left dangling off the ground a few inches.

The first one in the middle appeared to be a boy of eighteen years of age. He had long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail by a black band, spiky ends on the ponytail, while the hair on his lead was slicked back smoothly, pale skin, and green eyes. He wore black and grey bulky armor on the legs, feet, chest and forearms and hands, while he wore a black puffy armor shirt exposed around the waist and arms, along with a wide waist guard on both thighs and the butt, not showing any signs of his body, but the armor itself.

His companion was of similar build as he was a boy of eighteen years of age as well. He had slicked back platinum blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, with only a few strands loose on the left side of his head. Like his friend, he had pale skin, but he had dark brown eyes. He wore a British style of bulky armor, but he wore a black coat over his armor, adorned with a cross on the left side and larger cross covering the back. Underneath his armor, were similarly fashioned black clothes. Metal gauntlets covering his arms, while metal greaves and sabatons cover his legs.

And the third was a military man, much like the others, fully covered from head to toe in armor, with his face covered.

However, at the moment, all three were barely hanging onto their lives… as purple metal rods were shoved into their bellies. Pierced through their abdomens, they would have surely died by now. However, if they were alive now, it only meant one thing: that they were no longer humans. Much like Alex and San, as well as the missing Takemaru, they were Hanyos; half-demons infused with the blood and flesh of Guardian animals like Moro or Nago, and kept back in check with holy armor bands that morphed into armor to hold back the demonic entity within it.

Behind them were bodies stacked up high, tortured and torn apart piled almost all the way up to the ceiling. Some of them were starting to melt, as a few had their demon bands destroyed. Armored bodies oozing black blood, melting in the process. And giving off a horrid smell in the process, as there was nothing but death in the room.

Salka sighed in disgust and boredom, as she looked to the three, "Enough fighting it already. Just awaken your armor and turn already. If you're lucky, you might be strong to be accepted into our humble army of darkness." And then pointed to a corner in the room, "Like our latest success."

In the corner of the room, lay a cage big enough to fit in a small child, but at the moment, a full grown man was sitting in there. He didn't turn or look at them all to make any eye contact, as he looked down with his eyes closed. And he was completely in the nude, with only the shadows covering him.

Sechs, on the other hand, was getting fed up with just standing around, as he cried out, "AARGH! I'M GETTING TIRED HERE, SALKA!" He then whipped out a pair of handguns and pointed to the three, "Let's just shoot at them and get their changes done faster."

"Do that, and they might die… just like the first fifteen you attempted at," Salka pointed out, and then pointed to a hulking figure walking to the three knights again. "And besides, Daulf has it all taken care of."

Walking to the Knights, another figure made his presence known. He was a large muscular Caucasian man about in his twenties, with short dirty blonde hair, and dull brown eyes. He wore brown pants, leather boots, arm bands on both his arms, a belt going across his chest from lower left to upper right, and had attached to the belt on the back, an arrow satchel full of the purple rods from earlier, and currently embedded into the three knights. Around his neck however, appeared to be a purple metal band pendant, held around his neck by a think purple metal chain, and the pendant was shaped triangularly with a red gem in the center of it. He pulled one of the rods out, and then looked to the third knight, who was gasping his pleas of mercy. The big guy named Daulf chuckled rather dumbfounded, "Heheheh. Here comes number six." And then shoved it into the knights abdomen with the others, as the knight coughed out blood, which leaked from his helmet.

Finally, the blonde shouted in anger, as well as deep agony for his comrade, in a thick French accent… that almost sound feminine, "Ducane!" He seethed with rage as he looked to their torture master, and roared, "Damn you! You heretic monster!"

Daulf walked over, and grabbed one of the rods still embedded in the blonde's side, as he twisted it, causing him to cry out in pain. "Watch your mouth, you Crusader piece of filth," Daulf snarled at the blonde, "Or else the next time, I ram another one… straight into your head!"

"Leave my friend alone, you bastard!" the gray haired one shouted, in a British accent.

Daulf turned to him, as he seethed, "You'll be next too, if I hear anyone of ya mouth off at me!"

"Now, now, Daulf," Salka advised, rather calmly. "These three are the last ones, so please try to keep them alive."

"But they called us bad names, Salka," Daulf whined out, acting more like a child than a man.

Suddenly, they heard the third knight groaning, and they all turned to see him shaking all over, convulsing as if he was suffering a seizure of sorts. Salka allowed a smirk to appear on her face, as she smiled, "Excellent. He's starting to allow the curse to awaken in him."

The blonde called out to his comrade, "No, don't do it! Don't allow yourself to become a lost soul monster!"

The man couldn't comprehend to his comrade's words, as he roared out to the ceiling. At that moment, black ooze began to spew out of his mouth like a fountain springing to life. The black ooze covered all of his body, making nothing recognizable to him now. And at that moment, tentacle veins of what appeared to be dark green metal shot out from the body, wrapping and sliding all over him, as the black ooze began to shrink and tighten around the body, making it skin tight and his body appear to be naked underneath. Once the dark green metal was done encasing a certain 'vice lock' on him, the transformation was complete, as he was now free from the chains, and on shaky legs in front of all to see.

Before them, the third knight's transformation was complete, and he stood before them a fully awakened half-demon. His whole body was encased in skin tight black ooze film, that made his body look like he was in the nude. He had dark green greaves that started at his knees and ended at his ankles, the back of his calves exposed, and his toes covered in a one toe guard with a tip. His knees had an open knee guard with a circular port exposing the black ooze. His thighs and rear were guarded by what appeared to be a tentacle armor shawl made from the black ooze, and held up by a crown tipped dark green belt that covered his pelvis. His chest was armored up, resembling the head of a squid, with the pointy top going down his abdomen and ending at his belly button. On his back attached to his shoulders, was a row of four long tentacles, colored black ooze but encased with bands of the dark green armor that went down to his feet. His shoulders and biceps were exposed with the black ooze, but from his shoulders to hands, they were encased in opal-shaped arm guards, with the fingers exposed, with ports in the palms. His head was armored with a squid-shaped helmet, with the arrowhead end going down his back like a ponytail, and two tentacle straps going down his sides holding it in place. His mouth was covered in a beak-like mouth guard. And in the center of his chest, where the chest cavity was located the jewel that acted as the control gem, and changed from a blood red to a dark emerald green.

The knight's eyes opened, revealing to be an eerie slime green color, as it looked to Daulf. Salka nodded, "Alright, Daulf. Begin the test."

"Finally. I thought I'd never cut loose," Daulf smirked, as the red gem on his pendant began to glow.

Instantly, black ooze snaked out near the pendant, as it spread all over his body, much like the knight did before. And shooting out from it, bands of the same purple metal began to branch around and armor him up. Once it was done, he stood ready in a new armored body.

His whole body was encased in skin tight black ooze film that made his massive muscled body look like he was in the nude. He had purple greaves gone from his knees to ankles, with the hamstrings exposed. His ankles were armored by a protective hell guard that looked like a cylinder, and his toes were covered in a toe guard that was shaped like three big toes. His knees were covered by a cylinder knee guard with a large cylinder block sticking out. His thighs were armored up in three big purple bands that seemed to squeeze tight. Wrapped around his waist, covering his pelvic region and rear, going down to his knees was a purple raw hide of sorts. His abdominal area was exposed, save for two purple plates that were tightened around his abdomen, exposing them. On his chest were two massive big purple metal plates that covered both pectorals, but left the middle exposed, leaving a small circle of metal encasing the amethyst-colored control gem for the curse band. His shoulders were armored in circular shoulder guards while the biceps had two purple arm bands tightening his muscles. His forearms were encased in cylinder-shaped arm guards, with the hand part enlarged to make them more battering ram sized, and the fingers exposed as well as the palms, with the finger and thumb tips armored into cylinder shaped tips. On the elbows, jutted out two rods each. His back was armored with an oval shaped pack of sorts, making him appeared to be hunched over, connecting to the head, as five rods were sticking out the back like a mane of sorts. His head was armored, including the bridge of his nose and leaving the rest in black ooze film. The top of the head protruded forward, exposing a sharpened horn blade.

He walked over to the zombified half-demon, as he was now three feet in front of it. He smirked under the film, and then drew his fist back, and delivered a punch so fierce, that it sent him flying over to the room. The two remaining knights couldn't see behind them, but knew that their comrade would not go down so easily. Suddenly, shooting out of the dust cloud, four black tentacles shot out, wrapping around Daulf's arms very tightly, as if to pull him back. But Daulf's new form permitted him to be stronger, as he was fighting back. The cylinder-shaped heel guards stretched out, digging into the ground to anchor him, as he remained on his ground. Then pulling themselves at Daulf, the half-demon knight appeared, and shot his arms forward. Once he did, the palms opened up to reveal razor sharp beaks, and then his arms stretched out, grabbing at his shoulders. The beaks digging into his flesh in doing so. He then pulled himself faster at Daulf, as his legs came together, and morphed into a squid-head shaped spear, which dug itself into Daulf's stomach.

Daulf didn't seem fazed at all by the attack, as he stood like nothing had happened to him. Until finally, Salka spoke up, as she asked, "Well? Is he a pass or a fail?"

Finally, Daulf turned to them, and simply replied, "No good. He's not strong enough. He's barely making me bleed."

Sechs shrugged, as he pulled out a rifle, and loaded what appeared to be an armored drill bullet of sorts, as he sighed, "Okay…" he then took a breather for a second, doing nothing… and then pointed it right at the knight, as he shouted, "REJECT!" And fired the bullet right at the gem in the center of his chest.

The bullet went right into it, shattering the gem in the process, and going right through the back. The half-demon knight gurgled and spasmed, as his limbs began to stretch out and almost seemingly go limp. He fell down on the ground in front of Daulf, as his body spasmed and his voice gurgled, almost as if he was choking on water. Finally, it happened, as his body began to melt; the black ooze and armor melting all around his body, as his voice darkened and then died. Once it was done, all that was left was the knight's bloodied and bare skeleton, as it lay in a puddle of the black ooze and metal remains.

The two remaining knights looked at the whole thing happen before them. The gray-haired boy just stared; his eyes wide with shock at this. The blonde's eyes shook, and started to tear up, as he closed his eyes, and looked away, as he whimpered.

Daulf took notice of the blonde's silent sob, and groaned in annoyance, "Hey, stop whining. People die all the time. This ain't no different."

He then got into the blonde's face, as he roughly cupped his chin, turning him to look him right in the eyes, "So unless you got a death wish like your former grunt there… you and your remaining friend here had better start awakening. And you'd better hope you're a lot stronger than the last ones."

The blonde looked to them, as sorrow was replaced with anger, as he seethed out, "Damn you all…"

Outside

Not Too Far

Running at full speed, following up the trail that San had picked up, they all ran up the mountainside, with San and Alex riding on Isaac's back, and Rukia flying in the air in her Spirit Form. From what they had learned at the village, the Hanyo told the doctors that he had traveled from the mountain deep within the forest, where the apes used to inhabit. Once the war ended, the apes disappeared, possibly to go somewhere else at the moment. But they didn't care at that moment, as they were getting close.

The stopped at a clearing, as they surveyed the area, while San sniffed the air. Alex looked to the Wolf Princess amazon, as he asked, "You sure you can pick them up?"

"I found you, didn't I?" San asked, giving him a look of annoyed doubt. Although it was a bit playful on her side, as he noticed he gulped at that assumption. But then she turned back to the scent as she hopped off Isaac, "Besides… thanks to my new Half-Demon abilities, my senses have actually gotten a bit stronger than when I was still…" she almost said human at that moment, but shook her head, as her face went back to focused at hand.

Alex had to at least smirk at her attempt to hold on to her pride as Moro's daughter. He knew that it was a bit difficult for her to accept the fact that she was not just Moro's daughter, but that of a human woman as well. And now that she was half-demon like he was, it was a bit mixed up. Although he had to admire her adaptation in the past weeks; since her transformation, he and San had been not just setting up his temp home in the forest, but also on her new Hanyo abilities, as well as her armor.

He turned a little to blush a bit, as he scratched the edge of his nose in thought of when she was in her Hanyo armor. 'Gotta get those thoughts out of my head. We're in a serious situation of a search and rescue,' he reminded himself. But then he allowed a smirk to pop on his face, as he remembered what she looked like after she had gained control, 'Though it's hard to get out of my head on how she looks in such a skin tight and revealing…'

"Hey, you," somebody called out, getting the time traveler's thoughts back into place. The four turned to see that there were villagers walking about them; approximately ten of them, and all looked to be farmers. One of them, a middle aged man, presumably the leader, looked to them and asked, "What brings you all up here?"

San was on the defensive, still a little weary around humans in her forest, but Alex stepped up, and placed reassuring hand on her small shoulder, "I got this, San." Once she had tensed less, he looked to the villagers, and answered, "We're looking for some people out here. Presumably soldiers who have prisoners."

The villagers looked to each other, and simply shrugged, as the leader looked back ot the four, "Sorry, but we haven't seen any soldiers here."

"Then why are you here?" Rukia suddenly asked.

The villagers looked a bit nervous on that, as the leader answered, "We were just traveling past this place. We weren't planning to stay this long here."

San's eyes narrowed to suspicion, as she shot out, "You're lying that there's no one else here." Alex turned to look at her, as she pointed to the cavern opening, "Why stay near a cavern you were just passing by? And why does this place, as well as you, smell like decay and death?"

The villagers gulped at this, as Alex was becoming suspicious on this, as he slowly reached for the machete behind him, "Why don't you really tell us who you all are?"

The villagers looked to each other, and simply were calm about the situation. And then they turned to the four… and began to transform from human to outstretched black ooze beings hunched over. They looked like human hanyos without the armor holding the demon back in them, and more like Nago, as tentacles began sprouting from their backs, and their eyes turning red as well.

The leader hissed, as he looked to San and Alex, "Our master, Yashahime, expected you'd show up, Wolf-Whore and Outlander! Now that you're here…" he then pointed at them, as he ordered, "Attack!"

But San and Alex attacked first, as Alex's arms, and upper chest, neck, and back became encased in his Hanyo armor. San allowed her left arm, breast, and whole neck to become encased in her armor as well. The two slashed at the leader first, as Alex finished him off. San leapt up in the air, as he stomped on the leader's head, breaking the neck, as she leapt at the others. She pulled out both her daggers, and landed between them all, as she slashed at them, cutting their throats and stabbing at their hearts, with the grace and agility of a wolf.

Five of them charged at her, but Alex saw it coming, as he twirled around to build the momentum only once, and threw the corpse of the leader at them. The unexpected weight toppled them, causing them to trip up, as Isaac in his Beast Form leapt at them, tearing and biting at them.

The four remaining ones shot their tentacles at Alex and San like spears. Immediately, the two leapt up to avoid them, as they readied themselves to attack from above. However, they didn't suspect that they would leap up in the air to counter them, as a female demon taunted, "Hahaha! You humans are so predictable. Attack at the feet, and you two would leap up in the air to avoid the attack. But you didn't suspect we'd counter at you, did you?!"

Alex smirked, "Actually, we did sort of suspect it."

"RUKIA, NOW!" San screamed out.

Suddenly, Rukia appeared above the demons, and then unleashed a waterfall of intense flame, incinerating the four , as Alex landed on the ground, and caught San in his arms. Once the flames died down and only ash remaining, they looked around to see that none of the demons had made it out alive, and that they had won.

However, Rukia spotted one of the demons retreating into the cave, as she pointed him out, "Over there! He's going into the cave!"

The others turned to see him go in, disappearing into the darkness of the opening into the mountain.

Back Inside the Cave

Salka stirred from the ruined throne, as she peeked over it, and sensed something familiar, "Hmmm. It seems that our outside security's been slaughtered."

Sechs and Daulf looked to her, as the Tolmekian Mercenary pulled out his two guns, "Asano's goons? Maybe Iron Town? Or some poor schmuck we can add into the experiments?"

Salka shook her head, as she lightly pulled her eye patch, revealing a glowing yellow iris underneath it. She allowed her eye to scan outside; it was almost as if she could use her concealed eye to see through the whole mountain to see who it was. Or rather, sense who it was, as she answered, "It's the Outlander that our Lady Yashahime has seduce-fully been obsessing over."

"Ah, the White Ghost Princess's future enslaved concubine, I presume," Sechs joked, but then comically took a serious moment to think seriously, "You think the Princess might actually take a hint in thinking this guy has no interest in her whatsoever, or is she gonna conk him on the head, and ride him while he's out cold?"

Daulf looked to him, rather confused, as he asked, "What are you talking about? Who's this Outlander you're talking about?"

"Name's Alex, from the Future, and he's the whole reason we made you and these three here into Hanyos," Sechs quickly answered, and then acted like a giddy schoolboy, "He's the guy who set the whole Hanyo trend out for the Princess to obsess over to make the ultimate warriors for our master."

"Oh, so… he's the guy we have to fight?" Daulf asked stupidly.

Sechs nodded, but Salka then seemed a bit confused by something, as she sensed another Hanyo out there, "Wait. It appears he's not alone. There's another one out there with him. A half-demon, much like him."

Sechs arched an unseen eyebrow, "The one that got away?"

"No, this one's different," Salka explained. "It seems almost fresh, but… I sense not a drip of hate emanating from this one. All I seem to sense from her curse is… love."

"Love? Blech!" Sechs gagged in disgust, as he grunted. "Then let's do the world a favor and waste the hippie, and get the Princess's prize."

"Just remember you two: kill the other one, but make sure that the one called Alex is brought back alive."

Daulf seemed to smile at this, "So we can fight him? For real?"

Sechs shrugged, as he whipped out two guns that seemed to resemble steampunk rifles, "Sounds good to me. Who am I say not a little fracas once in a while." He then held the rifles in a dramatic stance, as he shouted, "Strike a pose!"

Daulf roared, as he ran forward, a living behemoth as he stampeded out of there. With Sechs running behind him, he asked Salka, "But what are you gonna do with those two?"

"I'll ship the gray-haired one to our other location," Salka answered, but then turned to the blonde. "The other one… I'll keep as a little side-project."

At the Entrance

Both San and Alex treaded inot the entrance of the cave, but signaled for Isaac and Rukia to stay behind. the idea was that both of them would go in, and that the two spirits would be the backup. That, and Rukia seemed to weaken a bit when she stood near the entrance, as San looked to her and asked, in concern, "Rukia!" She ran over to her, and helped her sit down, as she rested from her wobbled state, "What's wrong?"

"I… I don't know," she weakly replied. "But that entrance… I feel weakened… death.."

Isaac shrank back to his Fox-Squirrel size, as he sniffled, "The entrance reeks of poison. There's a reeking miasma down there. It's the smell of rot and decay."

"Probably the other half-demons that didn't make it out," Alex stated, as he looked to the two. "You guys wait out here. There's no sense for you two to kill yourselves in going in after us."

Rukia lay next to the wall, as she heaved out in labored breaths, "If that is what you wish."

"It's what I think you guys need right now," Alex stated, as he looked to San, who settled Isaac with the Fire Spirit. "Come on, San. We've got to find the others."

San nodded, but looked to Rukia and Isaac, "Just stay here. you two need to recover."

Isaac wearily looked ot them both, "Oh don't worry. We'll be alright. Just catching our breath before we puke."

The two humans then ventured within the darkened ruins of what was obviously a castle built underground. San had her dagger at the ready, while Alex sheathed his machete, having it on standby, but allowed his Hanyo armor to come out to encase his left arm, in the use as a shield. They walked in further, as the light of the doorway was slowly dimming behind them, becoming a speck of light barely noticeable the further they ventured in. once they got further in, they noticed there were bodies everywhere, but not those of Hanyos. They were definitely human, and had been butchered, down the hallway they walked in.

Then they came into a clearing into a spacious room, obviously a sort of ball room or a conference chamber of sorts. In there, were more bodies of soldiers. Alex took a good look at them, and noticed they had all been shot, possibly from bullets, meaning whoever did this was armed with firearms, but nothing like from Iron Town formerly. But there were other bodies… pinned to the walls and ceilings by what appeared to be violet iron stoke beams. The whole place was a slaughter house, and for Alex and San, it was worse than the battlefield they fought on when Iron Town fought against the forest.

San covered her nose, as the smell of rotting flesh made her cringe in disgust, as she complained, "It stinks in here."

Alex nodded, "Yeah, the smell's getting to me too. But if you think this is worse, you should try the morgue. I don't care how preserved the bodies are in the freezer, they still smell bad."

San's nose still twitched from the smell, even if her nose was covered. But then she took a gander at the armor that the dead soldiers were wearing. She got close to one, bearing the smell as best she could, and looked at the armor as well as the weapons. Confused by their strange attire, she looked to Alex, and stated, "Alex, I've never seen samurai wear such armor as this. It looks heavy and bulkish. And their weapons are completely different from samurai swords." She then looked at one of the spherical shields that one of the knights had in futile effort to even use. "And since when do samurai use shields?"

Alex walked over to see what she was talking about, and knelt down next to her. He got a good look at the armor, and figured it out right away. "These aren't Samurai, San," Alex answered. "These are Crusaders. Knights of the Holy Order."

"Holy Order?" San questioned. "You mean like to the Spirit Kings and of the Forest?"

Alex shook his head as he explained, "No. these guys serve the religion of God Almighty. The Father of all that lives on Earth." He scratched the back of his head, "I guess you might call him the Great Spirit himself." He then sighed, "Of course these so-called Crusaders found it plausible to go around, killing everyone they deemed a heretic."

"Heretic?" San questioned.

"Non-believer," Alex answered, but then became puzzled. "But what the heck were they doing here? and why are most of them dead?"

Suddenly, the floor behind them erupted like a loud explosion, causing them both to turn around to face whatever it was that had just transpired. As the dust and debris were settling down, a large purple armored hand grabbed the opened edge, as the hulking figure attached to it pulled himself out. Once it did, they saw the mighty large and muscled figure before them, as well as the familiar-looking fellow riding on his back, shooting wildly, and screaming, "HEY! HEY! HEY! LOOK WHO'S HERE TO PLAY WITH US!"

Both San and Alex sighed in exasperation, as they remembered that guy, as Alex groaned, "Oh, this guy…"

Next Chapter: Evil in the Mountains; Fire and Rock in Shadows pt. 3