Warning, LONG Chapter ahead!
Chapter 14 – RAGE!
"Yeah… I failed to save her. Shiho's death would go on to be confirmed by medics and other witnesses, and a few weeks later she would have a funeral with only a few close relatives attending. I had heard that her family had major expectations for her to succeed as a Volleyball player s, no matter how damaged she would look when coming home very few of them would have actually given a damn about her. The funeral had only been a formality, a necessary annoyance to 'portray' a sense of family in he Suzui Household, though it'd be anything but that. I know this cause I checked them out, Hibiki, after the whole shitstorm that followed…"
(Play Devilman OST – Crybaby)
How long had it been? He couldn't tell, all ability to feel the flow of time had instantly left him the moment that he saw the sight of Shiho's corpse on the ground, twisted and mangled beyond recognition thanks to the fall as well as her own previous injuries. A large pool of blood had formed beneath the young girl's head thanks to the extensive hole in it caused by the fall, something which he did NOT want to describe aby further than that even if he could see the cold dead eyes looking up at him, or rather looking at nothing anymore.
His breath caught itself in his throat as Tai forgot the ability to breathe, remaining motionless as he stared downwards, his eyes darkened behind his glasses and looking just as dead to the world as the corpse down below did. His mouth hung open, so much disbelief flowing through him that he didn't see the sight below as even real or not. Heck, he didn't react to any kind of outside stimulus, nothing could get through to him.
This…
This just happened.
It did, there was no denying it.
It took a while, but those thoughts broke through the haze in his mind, allowing Tai to eventually manage to recognize the sight before him as an actual thing, and not some kind of hallucination generated to mess with him. It helped that there were a number of screams coming from various parts around the School, with some students already proceeding to head out of the building itself into the yard where Shiho's corpse landed. These combined factors finally did the job of snapping the male out of the trance which he had fallen into, his form still hanging across the fence like clothes on a washing line, with his hand still outstretched down towards where she had fallen, almost as if it were still trying to reach out for that which had already fallen way beyond its ability to reach.
Yet, as his mind returned to clarity, so did several different facts which felt like multiple strikes to the gut from a sledgehammer.
The biggest one being his failure.
'She's dead…'
His failure to save this hurting young girl who had felt so cornered, so broken and defeated that she saw the only way out of this hellish situation she had been in being in the cold, silent embrace of death. He didn't want to believe it, but the truth stared up at him in a cold, silent manner as if mocking him, mocking him for thinking that he could stop this situation from claiming the lives of innocents. His whole body trembled as he slowly but surely managed to fling himself off the fence, down onto the rooftop behind him. He landed on his back first, and perhaps he should have felt some kind of response at the moment of collision, but right now he didn't even care anymore, as he looked up to the merciless heavens above. 'Why…? Why?!' the male thought, the very first thought that his brain managed to process and yet it seemed to personify everything which filled him at this moment. Why did this happen? What had gone wrong?
It didn't help that he had failed to protect her before he could repay his debt to her, either. There was a time when he had once heard the following: that to owe someone a debt wasn't that bad, but not paying that debt back was. Whelp, Shiho had gone and done it, she had committed successful suicide before Tai could find a way to pay her back for treating him with respect instead of mocking him like other students did. Thus, he would likely have to shoulder this debt for the rest of his life, something which hurt him deeply since Tai NEVER liked owing people anything, so if anyone did something good for him he would do his best to repay that favour.
However, thanks to recent events… this exception had to be made.
Everything had gone so well before; he had tried to do what he had been advised to do by that article. He had tried to get Shiho talking, to distract her from thoughts of ending the life which she had spent so long developing up till this point. Tai had been so careful, he'd been SO FREAKING careful not to say the wrong thing as they could have triggered something which could have reversed the process… only, somehow it got reversed anyways, and because of that everything he'd tried wen to a complete waste. He just couldn't get it, what happened that switched things around so fast that it resembled a freaking 180 shift? Mentally, the teen rummaged through his memories of the conversation before for any kind of sign, any kind of information which could explain how this had all went to hell in a mad attempt to find some sort of reason or logic behind it.
Yet, nothing came to him… so could it have been something to do with something on Shiho's end…?
(OST END)
'Wait, there WAS something that I noticed before… the blood and liquid…' Just then, memories flashed through his mind as Tai shot upwards into an upright sitting position. His eyes regained the light that they lost as he quickly got into a thinking position on the ground, his brain spiralling into a whirlwind of activity. Part of him wanted to see if he could see what had happened to make Shiho go over the edge like that, and part of him wanted to see if this could lead to a means of paying back the debt that he owed her. If something had happened to her that caused her grief, maybe he could do something about it even if she wouldn't be… around, to see it.
(Play Prototype 2 OST - Resurrection)
It didn't take him long to identify the end result though.
The blood…
That strange clear liquid with its stench…
There could only have been one thing that could have those kinds of things as a result.
A sickening feeling squirmed within his gut as Tai slowly stood upright, his eyes flashing with a newfound anger as all his previous emotions got cast aside. The more he thought about the possible hardship that Shiho had went through, the more that it made a disturbing amount of sense. Tai could guess who the perpetrator was by process of elimination, so the identity of that person wouldn't be too hard to figure out. Volleyball practice, getting regularly beat up, the things he had seen in that Synchrogear… there was no question about it in his mind:
Shiho had been raped… and brutally at that.
By none other than Kamoshida.
There was literally no other person who could have done it, Tai had first thought perhaps it could have been another member of the Volleyball Team, but upon recalling their states of being, both physically and mentally, that idea soon had soon flown out the window. It wasn't likely that it could have been another teacher either, although Kamoshida could have allies up top backing him up, that WAS a likely possibility. The moment that these revelations struck him, Tai began to feel something else inside of his soul, something which he had a LOT of experience with as they all came rushing back into the forefront of his brain with crystal clear clarity.
A sickening feeling.
Boiling Blood.
Resentment.
Frustration.
RAGE.
Yeah, in the end what had happened to her wasn't something which Tai hadn't seen before. There were just too many poor souls out there who get wrongfully used and sullied for another's personal gain. Such characters exist everywhere in the world, no matter where one looked, nobody could escape this fact no matter how hard they tried. To them, they are the 'strong' and the 'law' will not persecute them due to the loopholes they found about it… that, and the general corruption that the system has become. Money, Bribery, forging of evidence, bias, all of it dominated the criminal justice system. In the end, that's just how the system was these days, all thanks to those up top letting their power get to their heads and falling victim to the sick temptations of their own desires. Like the saying went: He who stares too long into the abyss, the abyss shall stare back at him.
Shiho had just become another one of countless victims… and he had been unable to save her.
Kamoshida did this to her… not only did he rape her, adding to a mixture of issues that resulted in her committing suicide, but he pretty much stomped over everything she stood for… not to mention insulted Tai by extension. 'This… this cannot stand…' the male thought, and though his thoughts sounded out like quiet whispers inside his mind, the amount of rage present in them remained so bright that each letter felt like the sun itself, scorching his brain and filling him with the flames of vengeful desire. He may not be able to do anything to Kamoshida directly yet, since he didn't have any physical evidence and it was just him against a well-respected member of society with money, power and resources at his side, however destroying the Synchrogear in his possession felt like it would DEFINITELY have a lasting impact on him. A Synchrogear and its user were linked on a very deep level, he found this out through Vritra, so what would happen if that link were to be destroyed abruptly? Well, Kamoshida COULD end up dying, but at this point the male didn't care. If he died, then that was that and his debt could be settled…
However, if it had a long-lasting effect on him that would be even better. The guy would be forced to suffer for the rest of his life that way.
As someone who had intended to repay his debt to her, the male clenched his fists as he stood tall, his teeth gnashing together as the pupils in his eyes started to tremble, as if one stop away from shifting into their slitted forms. '… Vritra.'
[… This one knows what you're thinking, human.]
'And do you intend to try and stop me…?'
[No. Like your thoughts said, your draconian pride was tarnished just now by someone who violated your ideals for his own sick satisfaction. Us Dragons have torched entire villages for less.]
'… Got it. I'll be entering the Palace from here, then. I don't think I'll be able to end up anywhere I recognize, but right now I don't give a damn. This isn't going to be an infiltration anymore, its an all-out INVASION.' Tai thought back to is draconian Tenant, his clenched fists starting to tremble like they were miniature earthquakes, his form already proceeding to get enveloped by his Purgatory Flames as a sign of the Synchro Jacket's deployment.
Perhaps if he were slightly calmer, he would have pondered waiting till school was over, so that he didn't have to risk any Students noticing what he was doing. However, A: he stood alone on the school's rooftop so the chances he would be found out were negligible at best, and B: Tai wanted to finish this NOW, he didn't give a damn about anything else at the moment, his very soul DEMANDING that he seek retribution. Perhaps in this way he could somehow repay his debt to Shiho by avenging her in his defeating the 'devil' who claimed her life.
By the time a couple seconds finished, Tai stood in his all black outfit, coat tails fluttering down to the ground behind him as he felt Vritra wordlessly bring them into the Palace…
Officially starting the beginning of the end.
(OST END)
(Play Persona 5 OST - King, Queen and Slave)
Within the Palace Itself…
"AHHHH, THIS IS THE LIFE…"
A certain caped man wearing only a speedo lay on his bed like the king he believed himself to be, hands on the bed behind him for support purposes as he watched multiple female entities kneeling before him, licking his shaft like a lollipop if one caught his meaning. The room he was in, well, think of it as a Throne room with the bed shaped like a love heart with countless rose petals falling down everywhere, the ultimate symbols of the desire he held within his being: lust. Various love heart designs could be seen scattered across the walls, ceiling and other essentials that the room provided him as its sole rightful master. A Master who currently needed some stress relief after some… recent events, shall we say, that had left him rather unsatisfied.
Thus, this would be what these sluts were for.
Both females had the appearances of some high school students currently attending the school, although he didn't bother to learn of their names and only concerned himself with how they wore nothing but gym bloomers. They each wore some skimpy ass clothing that he had personally selected from his expansive wardrobe, as well as watched them change into with eyes glimmering like passionate embers, licking his lips with an unquenchable hunger. He didn't feel the need to hide his lust right now, and it wasn't like he would be challenged by anyone since he was the undisputed 'King' of this 'Castle'. These two hoes wouldn't rat him out either since they had been 'trained' to know what was good for them, trained to worship and love him as both their benevolent ruler as well as their master.
"YEEESSSSS, JUST LIKE THAT, YOU SLUTS. PLEASE YOUR MASTER AS HE IS THE ONLY REASON YOU TWO ARE ALLOWED TO EXIST." The King declared with a deep laugh, his two 'servants' eager to please him as they obeyed his commands, as evident by the quickening of their activities. His throat constantly released hums of satisfaction at their actions, as well as the wet licking, slurping and spalling sounds which came from them whilst he clicked his fingers, prepping to summon more Servants to attend to his needs. To him, this was the life that he wanted, this was the life he DESERVED for his contributions to the Castle. A King was always a busy person, he needed something to relieve him every now and then… which turned out to be on several occasions each day.
As he got his stress 'relieved', the King looked up at the ceiling as he remembered what had recently gone down in the 'human' world, and a disdainful scoff escaped his lips as he forced the two servants to work harder by pressing his hands on the backs of their heads.
It didn't matter to him if one of his 'toys' were to be 'broken' enough from being worn down over time, since he had PLENTY of them to choose from. That dumb bitch (he couldn't remember her name; did she even have one? Meh, he waved it off mentally) who got herself killed may have had a nice tightness to her, but that's pretty much all she had going for her, she likely wouldn't have made it very far in life as anything less than a stress reliever. Her volleyball skills would never have matched a professional like him, too, and if she dared try to show him up like what had happened a few times in the past… well, he could always teach her in place within the privacy of his office.
Thus, with the 'protection' guaranteed him by the School Principal, the King felt assured that, as long as he provided results to his peers, his life of luxury and pleasure in this School would be a fulfilling one.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
(OST END)
Just as he felt himself about to release, the King gasped to himself when all of a sudden, the tranquillity his Palace provided got disrupted by a loud explosion sound, followed by rumbling one which caused his entire room to tremble like it were close to an Earthquake high on the Richter scale. Several surprised cries escaped his 'providers' as some of the objects in his room flew about like projectiles, impaling them and, like the fragile dolls that he thought them as, caused the two to vanish similarly to the Shadows that guarded his Castle.
Of course, the King did NOT appreciate this.
"WHAT? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE?! GUARDS, REPORT!"
Quickly as he got up and adjusted his speedo, the King started heading for the door with a largely pissed off look on his features, and just before he could open it the door itself opened for him, allowing a large golden Knight to jog inside and kneel before the King. "King Kamoshida! It appears that intruder had entered your domain once more! Only, the Intruder's seemingly on a Warpath, many of our forces have been lost!"
"WHAT?!"
(Play Yakuza 0 OST - Force Addiction)
BOOM!
CRASH!
SMASH!
BASH!
BOOM!
BOOM!
CRASH!
SMASH!
BASH!
BOOM!
BOOM!
CRASH!
SMASH!
BASH!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Emboldened by his righteous fury, the black-haired teen strolled along through the Palace, unsure as to where he was but kept on going anyways. After entering the Palace thanks to Vritra, Tai had pretty much launched a one-man invasion of the whole place, releasing HUGE torrents of his Purgatory flames that burned away large quantities of Shadows either in their Knightly disguises or their true forms, the flames didn't discriminate. Anything that his flames touched got swept away and out of existence, burned into that fate thanks to the flames' cursed nature.
Heh, to already be calling those flames his own when in reality they belonged to Vritra, the one whom deemed it a necessity to let him use them…
Kind of arrogant if one thought about it.
Still, as furious as he felt inside, Tai couldn't find it in himself to care at the moment. In fact that extended to his current location, as he currently didn't care to see where he was on his Map of this damned place, since he only cared about pretty much wrecking the entire palace. By the end of this day, Tai vowed to completely WRECK this Palace and destroy the Synchrogear that made it… then perhaps he could make it so that Kamoshida committed suicide somehow, or just kill him outright… or he could just torture the man till he broke, the decisions, the decisions…
His form, bathed in a crimson coloured aura whilst his equally crimson eyes shined fiercely like an entity from hell itself, strode through what seemed to be a corridor of sorts that he hadn't visited previously, although he DID eventually find himself walking through some kind of hidden entrance and going through the Chapel (AKA the Gym). Even his anger-fuelled mind could tell where he was at that point, though he made sure to bathe it in its entirety in his black flames. The carpets burned to nothingness, revealing the floorboards underneath that also suffered their wrath, same with the furniture whilst the large statue of Kamoshida in his gym outfit got reduced to a pile of liquid in seconds. It didn't take very long for the entire damn Chapel to literally become an unrecognisable mess in the wake of his flames.
After this, the male glanced to his right as the flames receded back to his person, forming a ring around him. He soon took note of a set of stairs that spiralled upwards, which hinted to him that to proceed, he likely would have to follow them. His flames swirled like a chaotic tornado around him, shooting several streaks forth which quickly latched onto and consumed the Stairs whilst forming shapes similar to what they devoured, allowing the male to step up on them whilst they did the same towards the walls. Tai glanced at the burning flames with his glowing, predatory eyes, a brief thought breaking through the angry haze clouding his mind right now. 'It won't be long now, Shiho… this Dragon will avenge you…' he thought in determination whilst his aura flared outwards for a few seconds, and then returning to its previous state. One could almost say that it had just 'pulsed' at this moment in time, too.
[Calling yourself a Dragon, are we? Hah, this one finds amusement in your jokes. Boy, you have MUCH to learn before you could ever reach the pinnacle of our might.]
Vritra's voice broke through the angry haze as easy as one breathed air, breaking Tai from his thoughts and getting his attention. A brow twitched in irritation at the comment, but in all fairness, Tai did think that Vritra had a point there. 'I… guess your right on that one, if anything I'd see myself as barely a hatchling at this point. Never really could picture myself as someone who could identify with people very much anyways…' The male thought anyways as he soon discovered that he was almost at the Stairs' top, with his flames having rapidly devoured the tower they were in. The male watched as small embers fell down towards the space below from above and beside him, literally showering him with embers that rapidly consumed fallen pieces, causing a slight frown to form on his face. 'Hmmm, looks like the Purgatory Flames are as hungry as ever… Not like this will stop me from destroying it, but this could pose a problem. Now that I think about it, this Tower and everything else I destroyed likely won't be coming back, huh… will that be problematic for me later?'
[Unlikely. This one can sense the enemy Synchrogear's power already, its trying to keep the Palace stable despite my Flames ripping it apart faster than it can regenerate. Though, it would be wise for you to only destroy what you pass so it doesn't hinder your ability to proceed. However, do be aware that as much as you can destroy this place, this one believes that only when this world's core is destroyed will the Palace be truly beyond saving.]
'I see… got it. Bet that I will have to blast apart that fake King then. That makes me smile in joy at least…' Tai thought as he did that same expression… although anyone who saw it would mistake it for a slasher's smile at best, and a downright maniacal one at worse. When he finally reached the top, the male looked out from the flaming tower, finding himself standing atop what looked to be… some kind of rooftop or yard. A yard which had a floor made from Tiles, and various boxes arranged into their own shapes across it. Furthermore, the teen noticed that this yard was connected to several structures, one of said structures connecting to a massive, looming tower. The male's eyes brightened considerably as he saw this, his fists clenching within his coat pockets. 'That must be the Tower there… now that I'm this close, I can feel it myself, that there's a powerful energy rolling off that Tower in waves. That must eb where this Palace's 'Core' resides… I'm this close to my goal, at last. Now that I think about it, my little invasion will have garnered that stupid speedo-wearing fuck's attention by this point, so I guess I can expect some resistance from him soon. What do you think, Vritra, how strong do you think the 'King' is?'
[Hmmm, this one believes that this one's strength far exceeds that of the stupid King here, by a wide margin. Dragons have ALWAYS caused great terror in Kingdoms throughout the ages, after all. In terms of power scaling without taking this one into consideration, this 'King' will likely be the strongest enemy we have faced so far. There's a reason he is able to control so many Shadows in this Palace after all.]
That so, huh… well, there were still some things which didn't make sense about this specific Synchrogear, its workings and the like. As much as he wanted to just raze it to the ground, Tai A: lacked the power for that kind of assault, and B: according to what Vritra had stated it would be apparent that as long as the King himself and the Core were still around, then the Palace could restore itself indefinitely. Vritra's purgatory flames may negate injuries, but that doesn't mean that the Palace can't 'detach' what they have touched and recreate it. For the King to be the strongest foe yet also made sense though, yet Tai couldn't wait to be able to face him. Heck, he literally took out his gloved hands to crack his knuckles in anticipation whilst striding forwards, a sea of flames steadily consuming the space behind him.
Of course, no sooner had he done so did Tai see several dozen Shadows appear from the ground around him, and with his Third Eye ability he found them to be significantly strong ones too. 'Of course, the King sends more grunts to me. Just like sending lambs to the slaughter…' The male thought to himself, rolling his glowing eyes as he noticed that the Shadows had already proceeded to shift into their true forms, forcing him to get into his battle stance. This little 'setback' wouldn't stop him though, not by a long shot as he once again pocketed his hands and allowed his flames to surround him, since for once Tai didn't feel like making tactics against these guys at the moment, instead he'd take them out in one fell swoop.
"Now THIS is what I'd call a decent obstacle…"
Following that battle, whereas he had to launch one quick and large fiery blast similar to the Chaos Blast attack from the edge lord of the sonic franchise 'Shadow', Tai finally found his first 'true' obstacle after ascending this weird as fuck tower. Apparently due to being so close to the Palace's Core made some reality warping shit happen, not like it impeded his progress much. Outside, he could still hear the dying screams of countless Shadows as the flames consumed them without mercy nor discrimination… exactly what SHOULD happen should someone dare invoke his wrath.
The obstacle itself turned out to be a long metal bridge, held in suspension above a pit of long, wicked-looking spikes that could easily impale multiple humans at once. The Bridge itself had a single hole in its middle whilst it connected to the other side, the things holding it above that pit being long, large Chains. However, this wasn't the most noticeable trait this obstacle possessed, no, that honour belonged to the swinging large crescent shaped blades that swung like pendulums in a clock. The sounds of metal slicing through metal rung out every time that he saw them, Tai noticing through the Third Eye that their rate of swinging would make getting through them quite a risky move… if he didn't at least try to deactivate them first.
[Just blast it with my fire. This is taking too long.]
A frustrated sentence escaped his Tenant and flowed through his mind abruptly, causing Tai to roll his eyes and mentally picture the face which the Dragon must have been making at that moment. However, it didn't take him long to adhere to those words since Vritra's opinion of him affected their Synchro Rate, meaning that he had to take his opinion into consideration here. As such, Tai held his right hand out towards the blades, closing his eyes as he recalled everything which he had learned about his flame manipulation.
When manipulating his Purgatory Flames, Tai found that it acted as if an extension of his own body, in which it didn't take him long to realize that this had been what he had recognized it as. Because of how closely linked he was to Vritra, Tai had a particularly strong connection to these flames, making them the best weapon in his arsenal not to mention that the great potential these flames had when utilized could not be overstated. There were other things that he'd discovered about them too, like their ability to morph into any shape that he had wished, there seemingly being no limits to it aside from his own imagination. With all the fighting that he'd done, it wouldn't be a stretch to note that Tai had indeed noticed the great potential the Purgatory Flames possessed, and whilst it would take time for him to properly explore that potential, he WAS a Synchrogear Wielder only for a couple days after all, but in the current moment, he felt like he had enough control and understanding for what he wanted to do next.
With his right hand outstretched, Tai focused on what he wanted to do after pushing those other thoughts back into his mind's library of information. In that moment, black flames formed just above his palm, spiralling inwards like a whirlpool and generating an ENORMOUS amount of heat… heat which he repressed deep within the flames themselves. Once he felt he had enough a few seconds later, did the male shift his focus into morphing the flames further, shaping them into the ideal image which he had planted inside his mind. It honestly reminded him of how sculptors, artists and the like created their own works, for it took time, patience and effort to form the finished product…
Which turned out to be a fiery Missile of all things by the time Tai opened his crimson eyes and flexed his fingers outwards, launching the Missile with all the power stored inside being released in a single burst. The instant this happened, the missile shot forth faster than a bullet train going at its maximum speed, tearing through space like a ravenous beast as it expanded to the point where the majority of the corridor's space got filled with its presence. The Missile shot through and pretty much ANNIHILATED the blades in front of him, the greedy and devouring nature behind them making it much easier for Vritra's flames to penetrate the blades and leave nothing left of them. By the time the missile had reached the other side and extinguished itself, only a means to proceed forwards presented itself before him, two literal WALLS made from his flames on either side.
It looked… goddamn gorgeous.
A smile of appreciation tugged at Tai's lips as he leisurely strode on through, the flames remaining behind him as they devoured what lay before them.
After a bit more exploring and scaling up the Tower from the inside, of which he had to take out a Shadow in the form of a Golden Knight which turned out to be… a penis head/slime hybrid with a bit of white on top (yeah, the less said about that the better), Tai reached a rather large door. The door itself looked to be at least 15 meters tall, with various extravagant designs drawn onto it, making it really easy for the hooded male to identify this to be the Throne Room. It helped that the Map specifically labelled this as the throne room, which conveniently had the 'Core' as a treasure box right behind it. 'Alright, looks like I'm close to this place's core… I'll perform a quick scan with my Third Eye in case that stupid king has any form of defence here.' Tai thought, activating said ability.
However, by the time the deed was done… He got nothing, not a single outline which could suggest that there was anybody inside the Throne Room. 'Hm? That's odd, I would have thought there'd be at least SOME form of guard detail here… is this King REALLY that incompetent in that e believed nobody would be able to make it this far inside his own Castle?' Tai wondered, frowning in confusion.
[Take the 'side entrance' above you to your left. This one does not wish to partake in many more annoyances.]
Following Vritra's words, Tai glanced to the side and noticed… a pillar shaped like a feminine human torso wearing a gym uniform with the but sticking out very suggestively, causing him to face palm. Deciding to not focus too much on this in favour of the task at hand, Tai quickly leapt on top of the pillar, bouncing up onto a side entrance the shape and size of a window… finding himself atop a long walkway covered by crimson carpet. There was also a railing to the right side covered with large green bushes and rose flowers, matching flower petals swiftly falling down from them to create this rain of flower petals throughout the room.
From his position, Tai glanced through the gaps between the bushes towards the space below, having found himself on an upper walkway which curved around like a U turn a few meters away… only to find a throne in the centre where the source of Tai's simmering fury stood, furiously barking at several knights. Several Knights who looked to be lowering their helmets in apology to the middle-aged bastard, in Tai's opinion anyways. 'Looks like those assholes have some members left after all… Probably stayed in the Tower since the very beginning.' The male mused mentally, although it also made him question why the heck the guy just didn't order them to surround the Throne room or block off the entrances to said room. There looked to be at least 20 Shadows there, so it could have been doable, but he didn't think on it too much since he had long since considered this guy a lost cause in terms of idiocy.
With a shake of his head, Tai mentally debated on whether or not he should just deck the guy right here and now, something which felt VERY tempting as he remembered how he had come to be here in the first place. Not only did the guy have him imprisoned, personally try to torture him for his own amusement like he had every right to decide whether Tai lived or died, but he did the despicable thing of raping Shiho and forcing her to commit suicide, right before he could repay his debt to her too. He had MULTIPLE reasons to do this, or he could just go to the Palace Core and destroy it there, thoroughly wrecking this Palace for good. He didn't know what kind of effects this might have on the Teacher, not like he cared personally, plus it wasn't like he could find some guide online about how Synchrogears like this one worked either, it DID work a lot differently to Vritra's Synchrogear after all.
Whilst he made this choice, Tai then noticed something, something which quickly settled his choice for him... the King, or should he start calling him Shadow Kamoshida…? He didn't care either way since the King immediately called an end to the 'briefing' between him and his remaining minions before he had them vacate the Throne Room. He then held out an arm behind him, towards a back entrance towards where Tai figured the 'Core' had been stored away... only for some sort of crown large enough to fit on someone's head to come flying out and land into his hand.
'... That must be the Core of this world.'
[Indeed... I can sense it to be the thing which is used to keep this Palace in place. Destroy that, and this whole mess of a place follows.]
Vritra commented on the Crown itself, all whilst gazed at the crown with unhindered lust and desire in his eyes, matched only by the sickening grin spreading across his face. "THAT INTRUDER WILL BE AFTER YOU, MY PRECIOUS..." He whispered under his breath whilst caressing it gently like he were holding a fragile doll. "BUT DON'T WORRY, LOVELY. I WON'T LET ANYBODY TAKE YOU AWAY FROM ME... YOU ARE THE PROOF THAT I AM KING OF THIS CASTLE, THE CORE OF MY WORLD. IF THAT INTRUDER DARES TO TRY ANY FUNNY BUSINESS WITH YOU..."
SCHWING!
"?!"
In that moment, a slight disturbance in the air got felt by the 'King', causing his eyes to widen in alarm as his instincts screamed at him to duck. The man did so, and good thing that he did since that would have been his only warning before a long 'Spear' made from black flames shot through the space above his head aimed at the hand holding his precious 'Crown'. then had to roll across the ground when multiple more Spears shot through the air from multiple directions, all aimed at his Crown, though luckily for him the speedo-wearing Teacher managed to avoid them, rising up to his feet afterwards. Seeing another Spear launched in his direction, the King's eyes flashed yellow as his expression turned into that of a savage beast for one moment, something coming out from behind his cloak and whacking the Spear away from him.
Each Spear then extinguished themselves as their source, Tai, quickly jumped out of his hiding place and launched several fireballs from his space above the corrupt King. quickly hopped to the side to avoid them, howling angrily at him though his furious roar went ignored by the black dressed teen as he landed on the ground and stood up. As soon as he did so however, his eyes slightly enlarged in surprise whilst he raised his right hand to catch an incoming fist aimed towards his face, a loud and large shockwave erupting from the collision that blew his coat tails backwards.
Even so, something caught Tai's attention as he glared at the offender, something which ignited his curiosity although he doubted that the enemy would have the intent to talk after his little sneak attack. 'This guy...'
Meanwhile, the source of the punch, the King, glared heatedly at his newest attacker, utter loathing written all over. "YOU...!"
"Yeah, me." Tai simply responded, throwing the King's fist to the side and launching a jab with his left hand toward the guy's abdomen. This strike didn't land though, since the King deflected it just like Tai had done, leading to the male performing an elbow strike with his right arm that got blocked in the same way, the male then resorting to a jumping roundhouse kick to the King's head. The King ducked under it and raised his left leg to plant its attached foot onto Tai's back, but the male twisted around even faster and launched a second kick, the two strikes colliding and resulting in another stalemate. Landing on the ground and sliding backwards a bit, Tai scowled in the King's direction. "Been a long time coming, this has you old shitstain."
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, YOUR KING?!"
At hearing the man call him his 'King', Tai bristled with fury under his clothes, although he retained his calm and composed demeanour whilst getting ready to continue. "For someone who gets off on raping young girls who would be classed as minors, you have no right to be called a 'King'. If anything, you're more of a maggot, an ant that needs to be crushed for being too big for your britches." Tai taunted with a sneer, his right arm flaring up as it got covered in black flames. He then threw the arm forwards, and a long streak launched off it towards his opponent with the intent to slam into him and send him flying... preferably with the majority of his body reduced to cinders, or perhaps the Crown atop his head destroyed along with any hope of maintaining this Palace.
Yet, just as the streak neared him, the King's lips twisted upwards into a mocking, domineering sneer. He then proceeded to vanish out of thin air, surprising Tai as he appeared right behind the guy with a roundhouse kick aimed towards his face. Fortunately the male managed to raise his non-flaming arm in time to block it, but the force of the attack caught him by surprise and launched him lying backwards instead. "HAH! DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH, YOU MEDIOCRE PEASANT!" The King declared whilst Tai flipped into an upright position and landed on the ground with a crouch, quite close to one of the Throne room's Pillar's actually. "THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH GETTING A LITTLE STRESS RELIEF, NO MATR WHO IT IS YOU'RE TARGETTING. LUST IS INDISCRIMINATE AFTER ALL... NOT TO MENTION ITS FUN SEEING THOSE FOOLISH 'MAIDENS' SUBMIT TO MY WILL."
Before Tai could ponder on what that meant, as well as stew in righteous indignation, the King once again closed the distance between them and jumped, launching an aerial Scissor Kick, then twisted a full 360 degrees into a roundhouse kick and finally finishing off with an Axe kick to the head. Tai managed to parry the first two attacks with his non-flaming arm, and when he saw the Axe kick coming at a speed he wouldn't be able to block in time, the teen quickly shot some flames downwards, using them as a thruster to propel himself backwards... right into the Previously mentioned pillar.
"Shi-!"
"HRAH!"
The moment that he realized his position, Tai cursed as he soon felt his abdomen get caved in by a right thrust from the King's fist, causing him to gasp as the maniacally smirking man launched several more attacks in rapid succession, each of them hitting before he grabbed the teen by his right leg and raised him above his head... all before slamming Tai into the Pillar with enough force to shatter it, launching him tumbling across the ground. At this point, the flames on his arm had vanished due to their wielder losing his mental control over them, leaving the arm back to being covered in the usual clothing his Synchro Jacket had.
A surge of victory coursed through his veins at this moment, prompting the King to then howl with laughter like a demented psychopath, revelling in the joy he felt as he beheld the teen struggling to get up to his feet, all the while the King closed the distance between them again by leaping forwards with an elbow strike aimed towards the kid's head to knock him down again, just like the worthless piece of dirt that he truly was.
However, things didn't go according to plan for the King, as Tai quickly blocked the strike with his right firearm, then launched an uppercut fist into the King's jaw as if to say 'shut the fuck up, motherfucker!' before hopping up into the air after him, twisting into a sausage spin that got followed up with a knee to the King's abdomen, slamming him into the ground. Tai didn't let his newfound advantage slip from him however, as he quickly fell down towards the King's prone position utilizing purgatory Flames from his hands akin to thrusters, and then proceeded to flip forwards to bring his heel down on the man's face.
'Got him!'
That's what Tai thought as he saw his heel nearing its target, eyes glimmering in primal bloodlust mixed with unrelenting fury and a desire to punish. However, at the last second the man's eyes shot open from their previously closed states, ad then he managed to roll sideways out of the way, letting the heel slam into the ground where he once lay and create a crater large enough to be considered a six foot grave.
Not wasting any time, Tai hopped out of the Crater and landed just beside its ledge, with the King standing on the opposite side. Tai glared heatedly at his opponent with malice and vengeance blazing in his eyes like the flames that he commanded, resulting in his body's crimson aura to flare like a living flame. On the opposite side, something similar formed around the King whose golden eyes glowed just as menacingly with a matching aura around him to boot. Both of them stared each other down for a brief few seconds, though to them it felt more like an eternity, until Tai eventually spoke up with something that caught the King by surprise. "You... You're not truly Kamoshida, are you?"
"HAAAAH? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF POINTLESS CRAP ARE YOU MUMBLING ABOUT NOW, COMMONER? SPEAK CLEARLY AS YOUR KING EXECUTES YOU, WORTHLESS MAGGOT!"
"I had a hunch since the fight began, and your words confirmed it. No, that's not right, I had this hunch for a while now since I started learning more about the Synchrogears, and have been waiting till now to get these answers. You... you're not him, I know this cause this entire fight you've felt… different. Your strikes carry an inhuman feel to them, and if one applies some common sense then the source of this whole Palace HAS to be the Synchrogear itself... or rather, the Monster Essence inside of it. So, tell me, who the fuck are you?" Tai explained, and during so, the male felt a part of himself ridicule him for not realizing that last titbit of information. True he HAD been thinking about the identity of that golden-eyed version of the 'Gym Teacher' as he'd gotten a sneaking suspicion about him, but he had been so busy with discovering about the world of Synchrogears and their properties that it didn't click to him that the source of this Palace would likely be the Synchrogear's contained monster.
Now, the only question that remained, was the identity of said monster.
...
...
...
…
...
...
...
...
…
...
"... GEE HEE! GYEEEEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYE!"
A moment of silence, long and tense, followed suit between these two fighters... one that eventually got shattered when the 'King' started to chuckle in an eerie, creepy manner similar to an old man lusting after some girls in porn books. Not to mention that the entire feel of him changed, his golden aura shifting into a dark purplish pink one with a matching eye colour replacing the gold. That didn't even include how he put his hand over his lips like some giggling schoolgirl after hearing some exciting gossip.
'...OOOOOKAAAAY, now THAT wasn't disturbing in the slightest...' Tai thought sarcastically with one eye closed and a 'tch' expression on his face behind his hood and Mask. Instincts screamed at him to be extra cautious right now, and he obeyed since he did NOT like the way that things had shifted.
"AHHHH, HAVEN'T HAD A LAUGH LIKE THAT IN CENTURIES NOW..." The 'King' stated after calming down from his laughing fit, although whether or not it could be called that and instead be called some form of demented psychopathic giggling remained debatable. Reaching for the centre of his heart covered cape, the King fiddled around with it for a moment before out unclasped itself, falling down to his feet and exposing his mostly-naked body to the world (much to Tai's internal disgust), as if it were a form of pride. "GYEGYE... YOU REALLY CRACK ME UP, Y'KNOW THAT SUGAR? DIDN'T THINK SOMEONE WOULD FIGURE IT OUT IF I PLAYED MY CARDS RIGHT..."
Hearing this, Tai's instincts screamed at him to raise his arm to block or form a fire wall in front of him, to which he performed the latter of the two actions. This resulted in him feeling something 'THWACK' against it, although he didn't see what it was as it retreated far too quickly for him to make out as the wall came down. Even so, the 'King' seemingly stomped his foot into the ground and something jutted out of it... a cup the size and width of a person actually, containing what looked to be... a set of feminine legs. Leering at it with a look of utter lust and desire, the guy then proceeded to grab one of the two legs and went on to 'lick' it up and down the back of the calves. As much as this grossed the teen out, what REALLY made the teen want to throw up was how the tongue seemingly extended itself like it were a tentacle in a porn movie or something, wrapping around the woman's leg akin to a serpent and fondling a certain place not to be touched that way... all the while the guy moaned as if he were under a pleasure-filled stupor. "AHHHH, NOTHING BEATS SOME GOOD OL' LEG DAY, BUT THEN AGAIN ALL FORMS OF LUST ARE MY THING, THEY JUST GET MY GROVE ON..."
… The levels of disgust in Tai's system just KEPT on rising right now, and they showed NO signs of slowing down at the moment. However, just as he made to summon another Fireball to blast this fucker into oblivion, a thought occurred to him. Something about what this guy was saying and doing seemed kind of familiar to him, not the actions per say but what they represented. As someone who liked to believe himself quite knowledgeable, there was always something about monsters that drew his attention the most, so he usually had a decent amount of knowledge about them. What the guy was doing now however, reminded him of something he'd once looked up, although he mentally prayed that he was wrong. 'Wait, could this thing be...?'
Before he could finish his thoughts, Tai noticed several things, one of them being how the entire room started to tremble as power started to surge up an out of the so-called 'King'. Cracks had started to expand out from under his feet as the king's body started to twist, bend, and flail about erratically similar to someone having a seizure, yet all the while the King kept a sickeningly sweet, seductive smile on his lips whilst staring Tai down. "YOU WERE QUITE CLOSE BOY, BUT YOU DID MISS ONE THING: I'M NOTHING LIKE THE WIMP THAT MY PARTNER WAS BEFORE MY AWAKENING. I AM THE DEMON, WHICH GOVERNS THIS WOOOOOORRRLLLD!"
(Play Persona 5 OST - Blooming Villain)
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!
That proclamation at the end had been so loud that it caused the room to tremble all the more violently, as what could be considered as a horror-fest of a transformation proceeded to take place. Out of the man's waist, a FLOOD of black sludge exploded out of him, spreading across the floor whilst he sank himself into it, cackling like a maniac. The sludge itself, which smelled more sour than a bag full of sour sweets, then created a rising pillar of it in its centre which took the rest of the Sludge with it, allowing the Sludge to morph into a more solid form. Two feet shaped like hooves were created for the form to stand up on, whilst the rest became a mass of tangled up, black slimy Tentacles dripping with a smelly liquid that Tai HOPED was not what he thought it was. Four long bone-less arms erupted out of the tangled mess, flat as a board yet with rubber-like flexibility as they ended in hand-shaped claws with metallic fingers. Furthermore, a long, thick appendage shot out the space between the feet, essentially the groin, whilst forming the head of something which made Tai realize its true nature: a Penis. Didn't help that it looked just like the Tentacles did too. Within the tangled mess, a single slitted purple eye opened up, as well as a long serpentine Tongue with the head of one spewed out, from which came the mad, cynical, sickeningly distorted laughter of the man it had once been.
"GYEEE-GYEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEEKEKEKEKEKE! I, ASMODEUS, AM ALLOWED TO DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT!"
'... Asmodeus, huh? A Prince of Demons and governs the representation of Lust according to the Binsfield's Classification of Demons...' Tai thought, all sorts of clicks happening in his mind as the pieces fit themselves together as he surveyed this 12 meter tall monstrosity before him. The revelation that this was the Monster Essence within the Synchrogear itself didn't surprise him as much as he thought it would, since from what he'd seen of both the Palace as well as the one who contracted with the Synchrogear itself, it made WAY too much sense. The fact that Demons likely WERE real did surprise him though, but he didn't pay that much heed since he had bigger priorities in mind, like the following declaration as he got into his battle stance. 'Plus, this thing looks like a combination of that Tengela from Pokémon with the arms of its evolved form, with its Tentacles made from those of the Ouroboros Virus from Resident Evil 5.'
"Asmodeus... I see. Seems fitting that you contracted with that asshole of a teacher."
"HAH! THAT MORON? HARDLY, I'M JUST USING HIM AS MY VESSEL! I'M THE ONE IN CONTROL, I AM THE KING HERE, NOT THAT PRETENDER! BEFORE, HE HAD ONLY BEEN A WIMP WHO ONLY STUCK TO LIGHT GROPING IN HIS OWN OFFICE AND PATHETIC MASTURBATION! ITS ONLY THROUGH ME THAT HE MANAGED TO GET THE BALLS TO DO WHAT HE WANTS, TAKES WHATEVER HE DESIRES!" The Demon, Asmodeus that created this Palace, and the true name of the Synchrogear essence that Tai was fighting at the moment, declared with all his might. The multiple arms then flexed their fingers as if stretching them, and from their palms multiple tools brought themselves forth: the lower two arms had a Knife (the left one) and a Fork (the right one), whilst the upper two had two long whips which looked to be made from thorn-covered vines.
Thanks to seeing this, Tai furrowed his brow as he held his hand out in a similar manner to what the other four had done, flames shooting out as if they were fired from a flamethrower. He didn't need any kind of power levelling detection power to notice this guy's power, and it seemed that his theory about this 'King' being the strongest opponent they'd faced so far wasn't that off the mark. He'll have to bring his A game if he wanted to come out victorious, and he WOULD. As someone currently repaying a debt in an unorthodox way, along with some personal motivation, he couldn't afford to do anything less.
From his hand, the flames then reshaped themselves, aligning and thinning until they formed what Tai would call a Daito Japanese longsword. He gripped its fiery 'hilt' tightly whilst the flames seemingly tried to solidify themselves further, but the process failed resulting in him simply holding a fire sword. He'll have to work on that after this, and whilst he wasn't someone who had a specific preference for a weapon, swords in medieval times were quite the versatile weaponry. He'd have to think about what kind of weapons he'd like to use in the future, but right now he had a battle to win... a BIG one at that.
"Well, whatever... how about we end this stalemate, shall we?"
(Play Yakuza O OST - Pledge of Demon)
It didn't take them long to commence fighting, i anything it took less than a second and the first to make a move had been Asmodeus, the impatient bastard that he was. That could have been phrased better inside his mind, but Tai didn't think too much on that since he had to side flip to avoid a wide sweep that the... the Penis thing did, nearly succeeding in making him throw up in utter revulsion. 'Note to self: NEVER let that hit you and take a LONG, cold sower after this... maybe even take some brain bleach.' the male thought as he looked upwards and thrusted his empty hand in the same direction, repeatedly firing a stream of small fireballs to stop a approaching shower of black Tentacles from stabbing into him. He then had to raise his fire sword in order to block a lunge from the Demon's 'tongue', which resulted in him getting knocked the fuck backwards.
By the time that he stopped Tai looked upwards and saw that Asmodeus had already jumped at him, raising its upper arms to swing its dual whips down at him. Not wanting to experience anything even REMOTELY related to SXM in his lifetime, Tai quickly calculated their trajectory in his mind, before stepping into a space in-between the two. His thought process: stand between them so their resulting shockwaves would cancel each other out and NOT blow him the fuck back. Whilst part of him wasn't completely sure of the physics behind that, it seemed to have worked since he didn't suffer any damage when the two Whips came crashing down.
Afterwards though, the teen had to parry one strike from Asmodeus' Knife with his fire sword's pommel, shooting out a thruster of flames from his forearm and using the recoil to increase his manoeuvre's power enough to do so. Hey, to deflect something much larger than one's self, one needs to make use of whatever they can, alright? Anyways, afterwards Tai stabbed his fire sword upwards and locked it into the tongs of Asmodeus' approaching Fork, directing it to the space beside him instead.
"HAH, THAT ALL YOU GOT, BOY?! SIMPLY USING PETTY TRICKS WON'T WORK IN THE LONG RUN!" Asmodeus declared whilst cackling like a madman with its Penis soon launching itself towards him.
However, instead of dodging, Tai simply grinned as if in victory. "I'd advise you to not underestimate 'petty tricks', please. Simply look up." He stated whilst gesturing upwards with his unarmed hand.
"HM?!" Some heat coming from above alerted the Demon, making its eyes widen as it looked up at the source... only to find a long Spike made from Purgatory flames shooting down as if it were a strike from the heavens themselves. 'Th-That's...! Ah, those Fireballs from before, he must have been intending this alongside defending himself!' It thought as it remembered thwacking at Fireballs with its Tentacles earlier. However, there had been some that had shot upwards now that it thought back, but it simply hadn't bothered with them, just figured them to be pathetic misses.
Too late to react in time, Asmodeus could only gape as the Spear came crashing down and impaled its Penis swiftly and with a vicious intensity. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The Demon screamed out from its Tongue, howling with agony as it flailed its arms about, quickly proceeding to try and dislodge the Spear by wrapping its Whips around it to try and pull it out... that is, until it remembered the potency the flames possessed and instead used its Knife to slice its Penis off before the flames could each its main body, leaving only a bloody gaping hole behind.
As much as the sight of a Penis getting severed gave his groin phantom pains (even Vritra winced inside his mind, just like any man would), Tai couldn't help but chuckle deviously. Seeing that disgusting thing being burned into nothingness by his flames felt OH so satisfying to him, considering the recent events, even more so due to how its end came. He only wished he could have done the same to that damn teacher, but considering the words that Asmodeus had said combined with Vritra's, it became clear to him that it and Kamoshida were separate entities working in their own ways without much interference, at least on Kamoshida's end. Thus he couldn't make that Teacher feel the same pain this Demon felt right now.
If anyone asked, Tai wouldn't have been able to aim at the main body since manipulating these flames, especially like this, takes a bit of concentration for his current self, plus he needed to fool his enemy into thinking anything else than those Fireballs so he had too many tasks to focus on so aiming it in front of him felt easier to handle. The fact that he had the Penis as his target just turned out to be a nice bonus.
Not wanting to lose this chance, Tai quickly shifted into an offensive, breaking into a mad sprint as he ran towards his opponent and jumping towards where its eye was. To him, that Eye seemed like a fatal weak spot which he could exploit, and no matter what the body structure is like one's eyes are usually connected to the Brain anyways, so striking at its centre seemed like a plausible battle plan.
Of course, out of reflex and fury Asmodeus launched several Tentacles from its messy, tangled body at him, for the male to bring his non-weapon arm down and smack onto one, using the momentum to flip himself forwards and on top of it. He had to jump off it afterwards due to more Tentacles, but he used them to his advantage by running along them and jumping off towards where its Eye was, his fire sword starting to destabilize due to the power being amassed into it.
With a loud war cry, Tai raised the sword and placed both hands onto it, the blade itself releasing a long stream behind its back edge that propelled it faster whilst Tai ended up swinging diagonally to try and cut the Eye. However, just a second before the attack could hit the male glanced at something out the corner of his eye and saw the Tongue having shot forth towards him and slammed itself into his side, causing him to grit his teeth as he got sent flying away from his target... although out of reflex the male ended up morphing his sword into a Spear and threw it at his enemy right after being struck, hoping to still hit his target...
Shame it only hit the mess of Tentacles instead, which then proceeded to eject it out the exact INSTANT that it entered their domain. Thus, it didn't even get a chance to burn its target.
"Tch…!" Tai hissed out a sound of annoyance as he flipped through the air, landing on all fours only to quickly roll to the side in order to avoid a stabbing attempt from Asmodeus' Fork. He then rolled back onto his feet and quickly side flipped, avoiding the slashing strike from the following Knife. 'So, those arms of its can extend, allowing for greater range when sweeping at opponents...' the male noted in his mind as he quickly formed a Firewall in front of him to block several Tentacles from stabbing them, only to glance downwards when hearing a specific crackling sound just in time for another Tentacle to surface between his legs, ramming right into his jaw as if it were performing an uppercut.
"HAH, PAYBACK, SLUT!"
THWACK!
"Guh!"
Whilst in the air, Tai couldn't see the following smack from the right Whip until it was too late, although he reflexively managed to bring a forearm into its path and unleash a small thruster flame to propel himself away from the blow and lessen its impact. Still resulted in him being sent flying though, and Tai had to quickly improvise when he saw that Tongue already lunging at him with several Tentacles, the intent clear inside the Demon's eyes. Instead of letting it grab him however, Tai simply created two Fireballs inside both hands, then pointed them downwards in order to have them spontaneously combust like two small napalm bombs. Upon detonating them, The explosive force did two things: one, throw off the incoming attacks by the Tongue and its Tentacle support, and two: fling Tai higher into the air.
Now located far above the massive monstrosity that was Asmodeus, Tai quickly threw himself into his next offensive, holding his arms outwards with his hands facing upwards. Around him, a series of Fireballs, each of them as large as a human hand, manifested until they numbered at about 30. He then proceeded to fling his arms downwards towards his target, launching all of them down at Asmodeus. Said Demon looked up after recovering from Tai's previous attack, seeing the next one incoming and giving a loud howl in response. "MOTHERFUCKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
That loud declaration aside, Asmodeus then proceeded to slice through the Fireballs with its Whips and the other utensils in its lower arms. Each Fireball that fell became a target, the Demon learning from its past mistakes and thus destroyed every single one of them, this lasting only for a few seconds until they had all been extinguished... Though, thanks to the special traits Vritra's flames possessed, each tool looked to have taken considerable damage with the Whips having lost a few of their thorns and the Fork/Knife with some parts of them irreversibly melted off. Guess the Demon had some balls to it (well, it DID...) since it had to strike faster than the flames could touch its weapons to diminish their effects.
"HAH! A BRAT LIKE YOU HAS NO PLACE LOOKING DOWN ON ME, THE MIGHTY ASMODEUS!" The Demon declared haughtily, laughing deviously at knowing that it had foiled Tai's plans with that attack. It licked something beneath its tongue which had shortened to do so, likely the hidden lips as it howled mockingly towards him, already preparing to launch its Tentacles up at the teen who still remained in the air... thanks to some small thruster flames along his arms and legs. "NO SNEAK ATTACKS ON ME FROM THOSE FLAMES, HA-HAAAH!"
Instead of looking disheartened by his apparent failure to do much of significant damage to the Demon, all Asmodeus was able to see thanks to the hood and Mask concealing the majority of Tai's face... was simply his smile. Not just any smile either, one which actually had some similarities to the smile he had worn before the... dismissal of its Penis. "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that..." He stated, throwing his arms outward again. "Apparently you failed to do the thing which cost you your little Penis thing earlier: Pay attention to your surroundings..." At that point, the male's sile widened into a shark-like grin, eyes gleaming intensely as he sensed it: a surging heat behind him. "Cause if you did, you would have noticed that my ACTUAL target wasn't below me... but ABOVE!"
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-!
Upon yelling that last word, Tai clicked his right hand's fingers, and following that a series of black fiery explosions erupted throughout the throne room's ceiling. These explosions actually came from a series of small fireballs that he had detonated like living bombs, similar to the ones he'd used before. He'd made a lot of them whilst the enemy had been distracted with his other attack, then tossed them up towards the ceiling which had more than a FEW cracks on it, some of them having been formed by the recent demonic Transformation Asmodeus had done. That fact made exploiting them to shatter the ceiling into tiny pieces that wee falling to the ground currently, all the more satisfying since it basically screamed 'fuck you!' to the enemy. As someone who had the practice of employing simple yet effective battle tactics amongst some specific fire manipulation and some flame-based knowledge, Tai'd come up with a few strategies to dealing with his opponents using his skillset.
Plus, since he had destroyed all but the part of the ceiling directly above him, the rocks fell down towards the ground at high speeds, and with such force that the ground would DEFINITELY be shattered upon impact. Even with this throne Room's shape it was STILL a floor within a Cylindrical tower, so the floors themselves wouldn't be that thick unless they had some decent support. Thus, by destroying that... he'd effectively created his own meteor shower, and to top it all off, Tai created a few fireballs of his own to mix in with the falling debris, something which Asmodeus sensed which caused it to tense up in dread as it figured out what Tai intended to do in the first place:
Destroy the floor beneath them.
"GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
A loud howl escaped the Demon's lips as it lost itself in the sudden lack of a proper sitting space beneath it. This of curse resulted in the massive bulking monstrosity to freefall downwards back first through the floor itself, and when it collided with the floor beneath the throne room it fell through that one too thanks to its weight and the impact it created. Multiple floors got caved in thanks to Asmodeus' falling form as the Demon flailed its appendages about wildly, having dropped its weaponry in favour of trying to find a way for it to slow its descent and lessen the impact.
However, since Tai kept launching Fireballs at its hands whenever they neared anything, the Demon's efforts fell short, thus ended in vain when it slammed into the very BASE of the tower... kind of resembling a King being knocked off his throne by a righteous rebellion.
… How fitting.
(OST End)
Down on the bottom floor, at the very base of the tower, things took on the exact opposite of the Throne Room in terms of feel and appearance. With the ground that of stone similar to that of its Dungeon section (which had long since been devoured by the Flames at this point), and there being cylindrical walls surrounding the scene to loom over it like some kind of prison warden dominating his or her charge. In essence, instead of the downright disgustingly gaudy room that Tai had entered earlier, they instead found themselves within this place's cold, isolated atmosphere to the point where it felt downright suffocating.
Slowly regaining its wits and feeling its strength return, Asmodeus gradually placed his four arms on the ground to push himself upwards, having fallen onto itself face first. "UGH... GUUUHHHHH... DAMNIT... DAMNIT, DAMNIT! A KING DOES NOT FALL BEFORE SUCH A LOWLY COMMONER..." The Demon growled under its breath whilst doing so, its eye starting to shake whilst it radiated bloodlust like a thick miasma covering it, its anger pushing its arms to move faster. Despite their appearance, its arms did indeed have quite the bit of strength to them, although they would have had much more in the fight's beginning. "I... I AM ASMODEUS! I REIGN OVER THIS CASTLE! I DOMINATE THE LIVES OF MY SLAVES! I'M THE KING!" The Demon howled as if to motivate itself further, utter rage and humiliation coursing through it like blood. By the time that it managed to get onto its feet again and look up upon sensing something up there, it's lone slitted eye shrinking to a smaller size while shock replaced its anger. "WHA...?!"
"Hmph… a delusional king, huh?"
There, floating suspended in the air at least 40 meters above the raging Demon of Lust, was Tai, his feet constantly releasing two thruster-like flames whilst his arms crossed themselves over his chest. But that wasn't what Asmodeus got stunned by, oh no. What he became stunned by was the fact that from the kid's back, dozens of fiery arms protruded outwards, each grabbing a piece of rubble in its finger tips to hold them in such a way that their burning effects don't destroy them too quickly.
"?! DON'T TELL ME... YOU INTENDED TO HAVE ME SMASK TO THE BOTTOM SO YOU COULD GATHER ALL THOSE DEBRIS?! YOU'RE INTENDING TO BURY ME ALIVE?!"
"Dead men tell no tales."
Tai declared whilst his many fiery arms reared themselves upwards in preparation to fling their cargo downwards. The sounds of air being torn apart ripped through the atmosphere like paper Mache being diced by knives, as Asmodeus quickly raised his arms above his head as he howled out in both denial alongside outrage, all before the debris smashed on top of him like rugby players performing the ultimate pile on.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-!
As each piece of debris fell upon his enemy, Tai landed before the rapidly forming pile, the many arms having quickly retreated back inside of him... although a couple seconds later the teen fell down to one knee, a hand on the ground and another on one knee. His body became wracked with a wave of exhaustion, even as he kept his composure and didn't break out into a sweating mess. 'Hmph, looks like I'm running a bit low on power...' The male thought to himself as he slowly got back to his face and started leering towards the pile of rubble still clouded in smoke. Smoke covered the floor around them too, though that little detail remained ignored as Tai requested something of his Tenant. 'Any idea of ow much power I have left, Vritra?'
[Hmph, to order this one around like a common pet... nonetheless, with as much you have exerted in this excursion, the Synchrogear's power has fallen to about 30%. Best make this last stretch fast, I can still sense Asmodeus's power, as weakened as it is right now.]
'Yeah, got it. I figured that this guy wasn't out of the game yet, it'd be too easy otherwise.' Tai thought as he nodded his head, having come to a similar conclusion himself, or rather he had simply remained cautious enough to have considered this in case that event Vritra had described became a reality before having launched those rubble pieces earlier.
No sooner had he pondered on this, did Tai nice the pile of rubble giving way at the top, the towering form of Asmodeus soon escaping its previous confinement with a loud exhale of victory. The Demon did NOT look very good though, proof that Tai's previous attack strategies and various tactics had taken their toll on its tangled body. Not only did its arms look horribly bent at various angles (though considering their boneless nature Tai didn't think Asmodeus would be feeling too much pain from them), but its multiple tools and utensils were nowhere in sight, probably have been destroyed by the Rubble barrage Tai had launched earlier. Furthermore, the Tentacles making up its tangled appearance seemed to be trying to bend themselves back into shape, but the process wasn't going soo well... and finally, the crown on its head looked to have more than a FEW cracks on its formerly untainted frame.
In essence, a FAR CRY from its previously dominant status before the invasion of its Palace.
"YOU... FUCKING SLUTTY BRAT! I AM THE KING! IF I'M THE KING, MY WORD IS LAW! BESIDES, ITS NOT LIKE I SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ANYONE, THEY JUST WANTED TO BE ON MY GOOD SIDE! WHATS SO WRONG WITH THAT?!"
'Maybe it wasn't as bad as I had hypothesized if he's rambling off garbage like that...' Tai thought, brow angrily twitching as he made to stride forwards, intending on forming a weapon with his Purgatory Flames to finish the beast off. However, before the teen managed to get above 4 steps, his eyes widened slightly when, in one quick moment, black Tentacles burst out from the ground and wrapped around his limbs and holding him in place. They then lifted him upwards into the air and held him there in suspension whilst the weakened Asmodeus howled with laughter. 'Tch, looks like this guy managed to send some Tentacles underground whilst buried in the Rubble. Guess it has SOME brains after all...' the male thought as the scenario replayed itself in his mind, allowing him to comprehend the situation at hand and how it came to be.
"GYEEEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYE! I'M GOING TO ENJOY 'BREAKING' YOU UNTIL YOU BEG FOR MY MERCY AS YOUR RIGHTFUL KING, YOU MAGGOT! GYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYE...!" Asmodeus proclaimed as it stomped towards him, rearing its arms back as it called forth a few more Tentacles from its body, its lone eye wide with a demented, downright psychotic look to it. If Tai could see it's mouth right now, then he guessed the Demon would be grinning in an unnatural way like a maniac. Though he gave no indication of being distressed about his situation as the Tentacles loomed over him, inches away from piercing his body. This would only serve to tempt the Demon further though as judging by how its Eye shook whilst its tongue wiggled about, it seemed that Asmodeus had more than a FEW fantasies that it wanted to try out on him as revenge for damaging his Palace like this.
"Maggot, huh...?"
"?"
Tai mumbled that out, his expression never changing even as his words drew the Demon's attention. Fortunately, the teen didn't halt his words and instead continued. "I'd call you that instead, but that'd be an insult to the Maggots, since its been discovered that Maggots have eyes all over their bodies including the backs of their heads. That's not something you have, apparently, as well as brains, though that's somewhat to be expected for a horny mongrel like you." Tai mocked further, gradually driving Asmodeus further and further up the wall. One might think that, at this point, provoking something that has their very life in the palms of its hands MAY not be the best idea in the world, quite the opposite actually. However, Tai wasn't acting on normal human responses here, not one bit. "Proof of my claims is that you haven't once looked down since we started this last little bout."
"HUUUUH? WHAT NONESENSE ARE YOU SPOUTING THIS-"
Before Asmodeus could finish its frustrated little taunt, however, did something get spotted out of its peripheral vision, causing the Demon to glance downwards just as Tai had stated before. However, by the time it did so Asmodeus missed the slight upturning of the captured male's lips as, in that moment, several long 'Spears' made from compressed Purgatory flames burst out from four different sections of the ground, forming the corners of a square from a bird's eye view. They moved fast, way too fast for Asmodeus to react in time and as a result each Spear stabbed right through all four of his Arms, severing them from his person and letting them get burned into nothingness.
Whilst the Demon of Lust howled with immense agony, detaching what remained of the arms from its body to not get burned by the Purgatory Flames' effects, the said flames deformed from their previous condensed ones and sped over to their maker, quickly rising upwards to cover and incinerate the Tentacles holding Tai into nothingness. This resulted in him being set free as he landed on the ground in a crouch and holding his hand out, the flames shooting down into the space above his palm to form a large fireball. All the while, Tai calmly proceeded to stride forwards towards his howling prey as he spoke. "Like I said, no brains. More must have went to your second 'brain' than to your main, did you not think that I wouldn't ALSO use the fact that you couldn't see me briefly to my advantage like you had before?" The teen questioned sarcastically, remembering the moment of when he'd placed his hand on the ground. Despite that moment of weakness, Tai had been the cautious one and sent in four streaks of his Flames into it, spreading them out underground through his own mental manipulation. As taxing on his willpower as it had been, the male had to make sure to ready them for his attack whilst not cluing his opponent in on his offensive strategy, something he believed went of without a hitch if he did say so himself.
Stopping about 5 meters away from it, Tai simply decided to finish the Demon off, not wanting to drag this out any longer for multiple reasons that didn't need to be elaborated. "Now then, I believe some nice cooked tentacle would be a nice meal for tea tonight." The male mused, chuckling as he tossed the Fireball right between the Demon's feet, clicking his fingers and watching the fireball explode, completely covering his foe with its infernal to downright hellish embrace.
The following screams that came out of its mouth would be one HECK of a catharsis for the male, and would be a source of satisfaction for the many years to come.
Once Tai felt it was enough, which turned out to be 5 to 10 minutes (Vritra's flames were just THAT hot right now) the teen clicked his fingers and let the Purgatory Flames extinguish themselves. This allowed him to see the absolutely CHARRED remains of the once almighty Demon, now back in human form minus the cape yet still retaining the pink speedo... much to his internal dismay, but thinking about the alternative QUICKLY made him prefer this outcome, though the sight of the unconscious man's now battered-looking crown caught his attention.
With that, Tai stepped forwards till he stood before the downed half-naked King who once had looked like the Gym Teacher, then he kneeled before him and grabbed the Crown in his left hand, standing back up and holding it in front of him. Thanks to Vritra's flames, the Crown only LOOKED as such, albeit a heavily charred one with bits and pieces of it falling off. It held NONE of the grace, royalty and dominance that it had originally exuded, yet there was still this feeling of energy coming from the Crown, showing that whilst damaged, the Crown definitely wasn't broken. 'This must be its Core... destroying this destroys this Palace, huh...?' the male mused.
[Upon analysing this item, this one has come to a conclusion. As well as the medium used to create this Palace, it seems to have a strong connection to the Synchrogear. Destroying this, as well as that foolish King, would likely destroy that Teacher's Synchrogear as well, although I am still uncertain as to how this will effect the host.]
Upon hearing Vritra's words, Tai frowned in thought as he shifted his hand so that the crown could be looked at with his right eye alone, his left going towards the downed Asmodeus. He had already stated his own feelings about Kamoshida dying from this, but having Asmodeus around here didn't feel like something wise, since for all that he knew the Demon, whilst an utter blockhead only concerned for fulfilling its lustful desires, could still have a few tricks up its sleeve that could cause more damage. It would be best to destroy it and the Synchrogear housing it now then.
Mentally weighing the risks and the rewards in his mind, the teen's eyes hardened and became steeled, resolution forming in them as he recalled the utter despair that Shiho once held in her defeated eyes before her suicide.
THAT just decided it for him, though in reality Tai had decided to do this since a long time ago...
A few weeks pass...
"Well... looks like things will be settling down soon..."
Tai, clad in a black suit with a white shirt and holding an umbrella due to it being a rainy day, stood in a graveyard overlooking the grave that had been the final resting place for Shiho, has decided by her family. In front of her grave stone, the male had placed some flowers that he had learned from one of her relatives she'd liked in front, his eyes darkened with negative emotion, Furthermore, he had made it a point to wear his necklace openly this time, showing to the grave that he wouldn't be so secretive with it or the remains buried within. Essentially, pressing f to pay respects.
"Sorry to be so late in visiting you, like this regardless. But, man, do I have a story to tell you..."
Saying this, a rather amused chuckle, if a little baffled, escaped the teen's lips as he recounted the events that had taken place, events so unreal and unbelievable that he sometimes had wondered if they were dreams, only for reality to tell him otherwise. Things since the whole Kamoshida incident had been... quite hectic to say the least, so this had marked the first time he had been able to visit her. Tai'd attended the 'funeral' held for her as someone whom had been somewhat connected to her by being the last person to se her before her suicide, although to say that it was a grand one would be lying. That stuff he didn't want to elaborate on, but suffice it to say that families could be REAL cold to their children if they don't 'meet their expectations' and 'follow the society rules'. It made him sick, to be honest, but for now he had other things that had been more important to do.
The most prevalent thing out of a few, well, that would be the ultimate fate of Kamoshida. Interestingly enough, destroying his Synchrogear had some... interesting effects. Turned out that it had strong influence over his lustful desires, bringing them up and 'elevating' them to an uncontrollable level. So, with it gone, not only did the lustful desires that fuelled the man's twisted personality vanish, but they also restored his rationality as if he hadn't had them in the beginning, resulting in Kamoshida becoming deeply depressed and ashamed of his actions, to the point where he had turned himself in to the police after publicly performing a seiza with his head on the ground in front of the entire school one assembly. One could say that it provided a 'change of heart'.
Soon afterwards, the Police arrived in droves, and Kamoshida walked away from the School he'd seen as a 'Castle' like that one female character who had sexual relations with her brother in game of thrones... only with his clothes on and people not throwing anything at him. This event definitely shook the school since it was still being talked about even now, as several teachers soon got fired from their jobs due to being discovered to have been 'profiting' by Kamoshida's actions through... various means he'd rather not mention. Not only this, but things at school started becoming a little more bearable since the students had more 'interesting' things to gossip than his presence now, something both he AND Chad had appreciated. As such, court trials would be starting soon for those assholes, but the public consensus was that NONE of those teachers would be punished lightly.
Good riddance, in his opinion.
"Kamoshida's going to be dealt with, he didn't get away with his actions, so he's doomed to live a life of misery and damnation in the eyes of society. Hey, that rhymed... Anyways, with him gone, there's going to be some changes throughout the School, with students AND parents coming clean with similar abuse cases. In a way Shiho, you may not be... here anymore, but you indirectly gave those people the courage to speak up against the system, to take control of their lives for once. Nobody may think this, but YOU are the hero here..."
After he had spoken, Tai's lips curved downwards into a frown as he sat before the Grave stone with one leg raised to his chest and the other horizontally across the ground in front of him, his eyes swimming with a dark pool of emotion. Even when he had first heard it on the news, Tai hadn't actually thought something like this could have happened. For so long now, he had been under the assumption that there were just some things that would always be 'absolute', things akin to those being in power being untouchable and above the law that governs Japanese Society. There were multiple things people abused in order to commit crimes and avoid justice: money, one of the biggest things since it possessed an almost frightening 'sway' over the human mind. Its not exactly unrealistic since everybody wants to be stable financially, with some even hoarding ALL their wealth to themselves. Then there was another important thing, connections, people who have connections to someone with power, people who know others who owe them favours, through the use of those connections hey can both escape punishment as well as frame an innocent whom had done no wrong. People can go as much as they like about there being 'inherent goodness' in people, but in reality people only show their true selves once the watchful eye of the law isn't looking at them, hiding away in the shadows where nobody would notice.
A common man or woman would not be able to stop any of these people, no matter what they tried if they didn't possess those features. An organisation being sued by a single person could simply bribe the right people and the court case would be closed, with a chance tat the person be forced to pay for everything as well as a punishment despite them being a victim. In school, children are singled out and bullied by those whom have grouped together to form something akin to a Hive mentality. No matter how much charisma one might have, no matter how much someone has the potential to succeed in life, they can only get crushed in a single instance by those who have power. It had been a sad, but unfortunately true statement about the nature of society, how it truly is behind all the glorification people tend to make about it.
Tai had thought this way for a long time, ever since... ever since that one incident that made his life a living hell. 'no,' Tai thought, shaking his head. 'That's not quite right.' The male then looked up at the skies, thinking back through his life, his memories playing through his mind like an old-fashioned video, and he came to a realization:
That his life had been hellish even BEFORE the incident... and afterwards things only got worse.
He remembered that incident, he remembered it well...
(FLASHBACK)
"Just Get in the Car..."
"Stop it!"
"How dare you cross me!"
"Stop it! Let me go!"
"Don't give me that shit..."
"O-Ow, please stop!"
"Tch, what a waste of time... You think you are worth causing me trouble? Huh?"
"I-I'll call the police!"
"Heh, call 'em if you want. The Police are my bitches, they're not gonna take you seriously."
"No... stop..."
SIRENS PLAYING
"Someone called the cops, huh? Get in the car! Incompetent fools like you just need to shut your mouths, and follow where I steer this country... What are YOU looking at? Get outta my face! This ain't a show, get lost kid! See. this is because you're so slow! Get in the Car!"
(FLASHBACK END)
Yeah, things only got worse from there, even as he DID end up helping that woman... and paying the price for it. What it resulted in was Tai getting convicted of assault, and getting a criminal record. Tai couldn't recall much from that night, not the guy's face but he could guess that the guy had some sort of politician job, and a high ranking one at that. That was the only explanation Tai could come to that could explain how things had ended up the way they had, hence why he tended not to trust people of authority... though, to be fair Tai never had much trust for them in the first place. His first act of rebelling against the system and THAT had been the result... all because he had tried to help an innocent woman...
Yet now... now things felt honestly a little bit different. Now, unlike in the past, Tai did indeed have a connection to something with 'power' even if it weren't in the traditional sense. He had a connection to Vritra, and that power as a Synchrogear wielder changed SO much for him. For the first time in his life, Tai found that he had been able to topple someone whom had considered himself 'untouchable', who thought themselves above the law and now would be on his way to being punished by said law. There was no way for that person to get out of it, since he had hurt way too many people so if the legal system did try to get him out of punishment the potential fallout could cause a HUGE problem, so nobody would try to help that one 'educator'. This fact could not be denied, nor could the fact that Tai had finally did something that he had wanted to do SO many times that he had practically lost count. To him... this felt AMAZING, and he wanted to do it more. There was no sliding around that issue, Tai wanted to keep doing it, it wanted to burn away those who thought themselves above the law, punish those who couldn't be done so officially.
In essence, Tai wanted to be the monster that devoured other monsters...
'Okay, lets not get ahead of ourselves here, Tai...' The male then thought, shaking his head to wipe those thoughts away from his mental faculties whilst standing upright. 'For one, this may just be a fluke since Kamoshida had a Synchrogear, and there's no telling what could happen in the future.' He rationalized himself whilst trying to look at the bigger picture. 'Furthermore, how the heck can I find those kinds of people? And if I do and I start dealing with them, what would become of it? More people would just take their place, plus I may end up putting a target on my head that I'd likely never be able to get rid of for my entire life. Exercise moderation and use your head, just like you usually do.'
Thoughts like this carried on through his mind, but one fact presented itself as clear to him. That was that things had changed for the male, be it for good or bad only time would tell.
...
...
… Wow, like wow.
What could she say to that?
Hibiki Tachibana, in the middle of the night, got told an almost fantastical tale of how Tai had managed to gain the use of his Synchrogear, and as much as she didn't think it was actually real, he had proven such by manipulating his Purgatory Flames (having to re-don his Synchro Jacket to do so). Heck, heeven showed her headlines of Kamoshida's arrest and imprisonment, so she found it hard NOT to believe him.
Though, in all fairness Hibiki, during the description of the final battle between him and this 'Asmodeus' character (yeah she wasn't as well versed on mythology and that stuff), could see Tai as a rather tactical person, especially on the battlefield. Heck she'd seen some of it when more difficult-to-handle Noise appeared, where he would study their movements, and use various tactics in order to gain the upper hand. Not to mention that she could imagine so much of what he had told her due to how descriptive the male had been, although she didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
Seeing how much disbelief his friend had found herself in, Tai couldn't help the awkward smile on his face, thinking that maybe he should have simplified things for her. It WAS night time after all, plus he knew how Hibiki was as a person, she usually had a fairly straightforward mentality, if its in front of her then she'll go to it. Of course, there were some things that she COULDN'T do with that mentality, and there were always going to be times where she would slip up, but hey that's when he and Miku would pull her back up. "So yeah, that's my story. Became this way after the concert, and spent the next few years refining my powers among other things..." the male stated, glancing to the side with an expression that proved rather difficult to read.
"Um... all that sounds... quite hard to take in..." Hibiki began, looking one step away from turning into a steam train with how red her face was as she swerved her head around in a slight daze, steam nearly coming out her ears. Her processors of course had been overloaded and its the middle of the night too, so what else can one expect? In any case, some questions managed to maintain their presence in her mind enough for her to ask them once she got herself back together. "So then... who else knows of...?" she began, trailing off as she gestured to his all-black getup.
In response, Tai hummed in thought for a moment, before he gave her the answer. "Well, aside from Division 2 since I just recently talked to them..." he began, not mentioning how he very nearly blew a gasket around so many adults but restrained himself. "I'd say only one other knows of my identity." At this point though, Hibiki saw a swift change in his demeanour as it softened, becoming that of someone who thought fondly over another person, kind of like a good friend or a familial bond. "His name's Yasutora Sado, AKA Chad from my story before. Essentially he's to me what Miku is to you. He found out a fair bit ago, i'd say a year when I had to save him from a Noise attack." the male explained. He then shook it off though, turning his head towards her. "Sorry about not telling you about all this though, just going to put that out there. Though, to be fair, when I met you again after the concert, things weren't exactly..."
This time when he trailed off, Hibiki INSTANTLY got what he had been talking about, her own gaze becoming filled with her own emotions as bad memories returned to the surface. Not something she wanted due to everything that had happened to her so far, but it happened nonetheless. She remembered it well, 4 months after the concert was when her and Tai had once again met, and at that time she had been harassed particularly bad by her schoolmates. They had blamed her for surviving that ordeal with their loved ones didn't, with some of them nearly becoming physically violent with her until Tai showed up to stop them. He'd been a loyal friend to both her and her family ever since, helping them out whenever and wherever possible. "Yeah, I can see that..." she mumbled lowly, sadness etched into her voice.
That sadness caused Tai's eyes to harden as he placed a hand on her shoulder after walking up to her. "Hey, look at me..." he began, his voice just as hard but softening as well as his gaze when Hibiki glanced back at him. "This doesn't change too much, alright? I'm sorry for keeping this a secret, true, but I'm still going to be someone you can rely on in hard times, just like I said I would back then." he told her, firmly. "That said, i'm not going to be able to help you with everything, you need to figure out a way to get yourself stronger too. Unlike what people think in stories, one needs to be stronger and NOT rely on the power of friendship stuff in order to prevail over every problem. Of course, I'd recommend learning from someone, since that's a fast way to gain strength, and considering the Noise threat getting worse by the day..."
He didn't say more, but Tai didn't need to, since Hibiki understood it regardless. He was right after all, over the last month the encounters with the Noise were getting more and more frequent. At first they could have handled it since Tsubasa was still around, not to mention Tai's unofficial 'help' whenever he appeared, but now with her in her coma, there really wasn't any option for her other than to get stronger, so she could become just as reliable as Tsubasa herself. It'd be a long road, not to mention she'd be measuring herself up to someone with years of combat experience, but let it not be said that Hibiki Tachibana was a quitter! If there's a problem before her, she'll deal with it, just like she always did.
Seeing the look on Hibiki's face, Tai let out a sigh of relief, much of the tension he'd felt this whole time leaving his system, like finally being cured of a long illness. 'Heh, there it is...' the male thought to himself, running a hand through his hair which also had the effect of lowering his coat's hood, exposing the black domino mask in full detail. 'Hibiki's always been a stubborn one, and now it looks like she's found an answer to her problem or at least the lead to said answer. She won't be needing any help from me right now...' the male thought further as he pulled his hood up and over his face again whist turning to leave.
However, when she saw this, Hibiki felt a question jump into her mind, one which she quickly asked before her friend could leave for the night. "Say Tai... wat do you plan on doing now?"
As he heard her question, the teen paused in his movement mid stride, his eyes wider slightly before they returned to normal and he turned his head back to her, this time Hibiki showing no traces of fear or anxiety towards the draconian eyes he possessed via his Synchrogear. "Well, home. Need some rest if we're going to be allies in our fight against the Noise after all. Since the idol's in a Coma still, we're all those adults have to rely on." he explained, and whilst saying so hid the emotions which surged forth like shockwaves when discussing the subject of Tsubasa and Division 2.
Hibiki, hearing this, aimed a brief but sweet and big smile at him, finding that answer to be satisfactory for the moment, as if his words pulled a weight off her shoulders. She didn't say anything else though and just let Tai leave for his home, before proceeding to head off herself. Things weren't as bad as they once were now, with her now path set out before her and the re-stated support from her friend, but there were still problems to be solved. Problems such as her strained friendship with Miku and the whole Noise situation, but at least now she had a direction to go forth in... one she didn't have to travel alone.
That thought filled her with WAY more comfort than it should have, not like she complained any.
Chapter End
PHEW! Finally, this chap is DONE! Not going to lie, this one turned out a lot smaller than I had anticipated, just under 20K words. If any of you have read my OEG story my biggest chap word count is actually near 30K. This also officially concludes the flashback arc, so by the time the next chap comes around we'll be focusing on the Symphogear main story, of which I'm thinking about making it like a book series with this being book one, then some '.5' books which would be side stories that take place between seasons. I'd say side stories, but depending on how they turn out they may as well become main story entries. Kind of like the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter books.
Anyways, for those who haven't guessed it already, this arc was a HEAVILY Persona 5 influenced one, not just with its story but also with Tai's Character. I hope you all can see the similarities between him and the P5 Akira Kurusu (real name in my eyes), whilst I also made some changes so its not a complete rip-off. Like the fact that instead of it being Kamoshida's Shadow I had him fight the ACTUAL Prince of Hell that governed lust itself, Asmodeus. Not a very strong one, but that may not be true for the others.
Furthermore, I hope you all can see the tactics that Tai employed throughout this Arc, they were meant to showcase that he IS an intelligent person, that he does think quite logically about things as well as does research about subjects in his own time. This correlates with his backstory a bit, which will be revealed completely in time. As for backstories, I'm thinking of creating some new characters for the future and adding them to Tai and Sun, potentially making a separate team from the Symphogear users.
Now, I'll be heading back to OEG for a bit, so this one may not be updated for a while so be warned. That one's been waiting long enough, not to mention there's other fics on my profile that I want to get done like AOTD and my Prototype/Neptunia crossover. I DO wish to complete them, instead of being like so many authors and leaving them unfinished without notification after all.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and arc by extension, and see you later.
Peace Out!