Chapter 128: The Yokai King
Meanwhile, Pierce had another topic to broach. "Excuse me, um, Swordmaster," he started, recalling with discomfort how easily the man had knocked him out. "How did you do that? The . . Haki, was it?"
"It's an advanced technique that is prevalent in the New World, the most dangerous region on the planet. You rarely see it in Fiore," The Swordmaster explained.
"But you can use it to fight those . . TFEI?" Pierce pressed.
"Only indirectly. There are three kinds of Haki, but only Conqueror's Haki has any effect on a TFEI. Conqueror's Haki saps the willpower of people it is directed at, knocking people out without leaving a scratch on them. I must apologise for using it on you while being controlled by that thing; if it makes you feel any better, your resilience is impressive," the Swordmaster explained. "However, it only serves to weaken a powerful being like a TFEI,"
Pierce looked at the fragment of metal in his hands. "Well, then how do we beat them?" he protested. "They have to have a weakness,"
"Maybe we should ask her," The Swordmaster suggested, gesturing to Entropy, who was still, like a statue.
Yurei had climbed up her neck and was locking eyes with her. "Mum?" She didn't respond.
There was a crashing noise, and suddenly the Sonic Boom entered the cave, grinding to a halt. Boomer emerged, looking around. "What did I miss? Who are we fighting?"
"Relax. It's all over," Pierce assured him. "Entropy's not evil, the Swordmaster's not possessed anymore, and the TFEI isn't coming back,"
"Oh. Good," Boomer started, seeing Aberforth's corpse, but then noticed Yurei. "Um . ."
Tyria followed his line of sight. "Thraide had a grudge. Also, don't touch that sword," she warned, gesturing to the possessed pink blade.
"What . . what are we going to do with that anyway?" Erik was coming to, focusing on the sword that had controlled him. Pierce and Grace steadied him as he rose.
"Leave him," Entropy suddenly spoke. "We're at the bottom of a massive cave system that no human has entered for centuries. Once we leave, the odds of anyone else ever coming back here are negligible. He will be stuck here. Forever," Yurei breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that his mother was responding again, and jumped back to the ground.
Before anyone could react to her suggestion with more than a thoughtful nod, Boomer interrupted. "Why is the Sonic Boom alive?"
"Mother can bring anything she touches to life. We explained this," Yurei testify pointed out.
"I know. I mean, why did you do that to my car?" Boomer demanded.
"I'm sorry. It was an accident," Entropy seemed to be coming to her senses. She kept her eyes fixed on the Sonic Boom, away from Yurei. "I'll free you," she declared, placing a palm on the car and feeling the familiar magical film that only she could detect over its plating. She gathered it in her hands and pulled.
As Entropy pulled the magic out of the Sonic Boom, it shifted into the visible spectrum, becoming a billowing black cloud that was shot through with flashes of gold. It span and condensed, whirling like a tiny tornado and concentrating itself into a sphere, before expanding outwards and hitting the ground, sprouting four legs that ended in gleaming ebon hooves and a long, flowing golden mane that ended in an equine face with an ornate, spiralling horn between its eyes.
"A yokai . . unicorn?" Pierce spluttered in disbelief.
The newborn, first-generation unicorn yokai briefly hovered in the air, before lowering her hooves to the ground. She was almost hard to look at; her pelt was thin and and coloured like the night sky, and no one could quite tell whether she had fur or naked skin. One's eyes were naturally drawn to the pale gold of her horn, mane and tail, and her dark eyes rolled wildly around the room before fixing on Boomer. "Daddy!" she suddenly squealed in a beautiful, melodious voice, twisting and pulling the short wizard in, softly neighing and nuzzling his back with her throat pressed to his shoulder.
". . Say what?" Boomer spluttered.
The unicorn nickered softly. "I can talk now. I thought that wouldn't be possible. It was so hard trying to talk using that dumb speaker system,"
"Hold on, hold on. How exactly am I your father?" Boomer asked, pushing the yokai away.
The unicorn eyed him curiously. "Well who else would be?" she asked.
"I-" Boomer had no idea how to respond to this, and the newborn took this as acceptance, nickering and nuzzling him again.
"Okay, listen up, kid!" Boomer and the new yokai turned to see Kit preening on the ground before them. "My name's Kit and as a two-hundred-and-eighty-one-year-old yokai, I am your elder! Henceforth, you shall refer to me as Master Kit, and I will teach you the ways of the yokai!"
The unicorn considered this for a second, before kneeling down on her front legs and bowing her head. "Yes, Master Kit,"
"I'm not sure what's more surprising, that Kit thinks that that'll work or that it did," Tyria mumbled to Pierce. "Don't worry, if she's smart she'll figure out that he's full of crap pretty quickly," he replied, before silently cursing. So much for his resolution not to swear around Grace.
"Well, there's one thing left to do," Entropy suddenly resolved, striding over to the machine that had lain against the wall, forgotten. Everyone eyed her curiously.
"We're going to free dad," Yurei agreed.
Entropy stiffened momentarily as he spoke, but gritted her teeth and focused. "I've waited a thousand years. It's time," she agreed. "Yurei, Kit? It's fueled by yokai energy. I was going to have Thraide power it, but, well . . oh, you too, I suppose, if you think you can, um . ." She gestured at the unicorn, reaching for a nonexistent name. Realising what she was reaching for, the yokai looked at Boomer. "I need a name," she realised.
"Siria," Boomer immediately put forward, seemingly before realising what he had said. "If you want," he lamely added.
The unicorn spirit nodded to herself. "I like that," she confirmed brightly. "Let's do this,"
The three yokai gathered before the machine, analysing it. It looked like a laser, filled with mirrors and magnifying glasses that all converged on one conical focus that was aimed directly at the green rift in the wall.
Siria was first, pointing her horn at the device and focusing magic into it, in the form of a golden laser. Yurei joined her, adding a green beam of energy into the mix, and Kit twisted his tail, firing red energy out of it. The green, red and gold bounced through the mirrors and glasses, being focused, refined and fused until it hit the Blind Sun, which shone with radiant light. The assembled wizards watched in amazement as the Blind Sun projected a beam of magic directly into the heart of the glowing green crack in the world. The Fissure shone with magic, the green slowly bleeding out to be replaced with pure white, and space itself seemed to distort and ripple, the cave wall slowly flexing and breaking open.
Everyone looked at Entropy. "It might take an hour or so," she admitted.
The Swordmaster held up his piece of Calvin's face. "Let's split up and bury these. Meet back in an hour," he instructed.
-[CoT]-
Shortly after the Phoenixes returned to the cave, the crack resolved into a shimmering, white, circular portal that spread and became transparent.
The three yokai finally fell away from the machine, each looking exhausted, but the portal remained. Entropy hastened to it, and the other wizards followed her, eager to look through the portal and see the Yokai King.
Entropy's breath caught in her throat. "No," she murmured.
"What's wrong?" Grace asked.
"It's not possible," she mumbled. "Not after all this time . . something must be wrong with the device,"
"Mum? What is it?" Yurei questioned, picking himself up, snaking through the wizards' legs and peering through the portal. "Oh no," he mumbled, seeing what was inside the rift.
Nothing.
It was empty.
The pocket dimension, the impossible room in the cave, the final refuge of the Yokai King . . was empty.
"What . . but . . where is he?" Entropy demanded, a shriek that bounced around the pocket dimension and echoed back into her face.
"Erik, can you hear anything?" Pierce suggested.
"I'm afraid not," the Poison wizard admitted. "It's silent,"
Entropy screamed. "Long! Where are you . . where are you?!"
Only her own voice echoed back at her.
For a moment, all was silent.
"We should . . I think it's time to go," Pierce suggested. An empathetic Grace took Entropy's hand, and Cal picked up Yurei, as Boomer climbed into the Sonic Boom with Siria draped across the rear seats. Kit jumped onto Pierce's shoulder, and for once, the Tamer didn't shoo him off.
It was a somber procession that made its way back up the cave runs.
"Hey. I just realised something," Pierce suddenly blinked, looking at Grace and Erik.
"Yeah?" the older Dragon Slayer asked.
"Entropy said that to use the Purging Pyre, you had to be descended from a member of the guild that created it," Pierce reminded them both. "And me and Grace can both use it,"
Realisation hit them both at the same time. "That means we actually are related!" Grace beamed at her adoptive brother. "Do I have to start calling you cousin, then?" Erik chuckled.
"It wouldn't go amiss," Pierce teased, and all three chuckled.
"You're lucky," Tyria grumbled.
"Ahem, demigod. You're probably the most powerful one here, you need that power up the least out of our whole guild," her boyfriend pointed out. "Besides, if you had it that would mean we're distantly related too, and -"
"What, you think every member of this mystery guild was related to one another?" Tyria pointed out.
There was a moment of silence.
"I like Pierce's interpretation better," Grace snorted.
"It's definitely worth researching. This mystery guild that created a power I've never even heard of before," Sarph frowned and opened an Archive screen, running a quick search. "Huh,"
"What is it?" the greenette Dragon Slayer asked.
"The Purging Pyre dates back four hundred years, when it was first seen being used in the continent of Alakitasia. Since then there have been reports every few years of a lineage of powerful women in Alakitasia who can use it . . and that's it. No users in all of recorded history aside from this one dynasty," Sarph read.
"See? It is just one family!" Grace grinned at Tyria triumphantly. "We should try to get in touch," she added. "If we've got long-lost family in Alakitasia, I want to know,"
"It's worth a shot. We'll write them a letter when we get back to the guild hall," the knight agreed.
"An excellent effort," the Swordmaster suddenly rumbled. "You've grown into a fine leader. Sarph," he pronounced the chosen name carefully.
"What? Oh, I'm not the leader of our team. Pierce is," Sarph corrected his teacher.
The Swordmaster paused for a moment. "I see. Surprising,"
"I keep telling you, I'm not a leader," Pierce groused.
For a moment, every Phoenix chuckled. Cal haltingly joined in. Yurei balefully glared at them all. "Show a little tact, people," he growled, gesturing at his morose mother.
Everyone quieted. "Sorry," Erik mumbled on behalf of the group.
-[CoT]-
They came to the cave where Nino E. Servhardt was just regaining consciousness. "Mistress!" she cried, seeing the group.
"We're not fighting anymore. It's over," Pierce immediately informed her as she rushed to Entropy's side.
"Yes. Tailwind, you might as well let Nino back in control. There's no point anymore," Entropy mumbled.
Everyone reacted in surprise, hearing this. All the more so, though, when a tiny, avian yokai emerged from the metal spike in Nino's hand, perching on her shoulder and bowing her head respectfully. Nino, for her part, shook her head, her eyes rolling backwards as she mumbled incoherently. "Give her a minute," the yokai - Tailwind - nodded. "She'll be fine,"
At this, Nino came to. "Huh? Wha . . oh, hi. How did . ." She read Entropy's face and quieted. "If there's anything I can do, mistress . . ?"
"Just walk. Our friends here have places to be," Entropy stiffly commanded.
-[CoT]-
It was a quiet procession that eventually emerged into the twilight. It had been a long day, and the moon was rising on the horizon.
And there was someone waiting for them.
Sarph glared balefully at Mister Thick. The knight's shoulder was still a bloody mess, as patched over as it had been. But this was no time for a fight. "The fight's over. We're done. Go home," he commanded.
"Yes, Thick. It's over," Entropy confirmed.
Yurei looked morose. "We'll never find dad,"
"So you opened the pocket dimension and found it empty?" Mister Thick confirmed.
"Hey. He sounds different to before," Erik frowned suspiciously.
"Yes," Entropy nodded, ignoring the Dragon Slayer.
"How does that make you feel?" Thick pressed.
Anguish was etched into Entropy's face. "How can you ask that?" she demanded. "I feel like I'll never be happy again! Like life is meaningless! Without . . without . ." she choked, swaying on her feet.
"Good," the man nodded, raising his pile bunker. The massive weapon glinted with menace, before suddenly flashing with golden light.
"If you think you're hurting her now," the Swordmaster rumbled, stepping forwards, but Yurei sniffed. "Wait. I know that magic!"
Orange smoke burst forth from the weapon, falling away from Thick himself, rising into the air like the smoke of a bonfire. Black streaks appeared, and the magic funnelled itself, twisting and coiling into a long, serpentine form, which spread outwards into the shape of a massive draconic being.
Entropy and Yurei both froze. "L-Long?" the Mother of Mischief squeaked.
"Forgive me," the massive yokai bowed his head. "But I've been watching you all for quite a while. And . . I am sorry,"
"Hold on, hold on," Kit interspersed himself from the group. "What exactly is going on?"
"I would never seal myself into a dimension I could not escape on my own. I slept for centuries, but when I heard that, outside, someone was trying to free me, I exited to see what was happening. And, after what happened . . I still didn't know what to think, whether I could trust you, or Yurei. I was paranoid, and I was selfish. For all this time, I've been watching, because I knew the true test would be your reaction when you saw that my prison was empty. Seeing you now, like this, I realise I never should have doubted your love for me. And, Entropy, I am sorry," Long explained, remorse painted across his orange face.
Entropy stumbled forwards, almost falling into the massive creature's arms. "I don't care," she whimpered, tears of relief trickling down her face. "I'm just so happy that you're here,"
And then Yurei was there too, wrapping himself around them both. "Father," he hissed, sighing in relief.
The Phoenixes watched the family reunion, and Siria affectionately nuzzled Boomer. Tyria leant on Pierce, who absently wrapped an arm around her neck. "Do you think we'll ever have children?" she asked her boyfriend.
"Someday? Of course," he assured her, the question bringing it mind a flurry of thoughts and feelings.
All of which, of course, Erik was privy to. "Hey, Pierce. Sorry to ruin the moment, but can we talk? Alone?" he gruffly asked.
Pierce cocked an eyebrow. "Sure, I suppose,"
Erik led him a little ways back into the cave, where they wouldn't be overheard. "Okay, What is with you? This entire mission, your mind's been going in overprotective circles. Something happened, didn't it? Something that's gotten you obsessed with protecting your friends. So what's the deal?"
Pierce stared at him flatly. ". . It is so easy to forget that you can hear people's thoughts," he sighed.
"C'mon, spill. We're friends, aren't we?"
Pierce nodded, sighing. ". . You met Kynigos, right? The version of me from an alternate universe -"
"Who travelled to the future and learned Dragon Slayer magic. Yeah, I had a run-in with him," Erik confirmed.
"He told me what happened to us, in that future," Pierce's voice went soft.
". . and?"
"We were all dead,"
Erik cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, I heard a bit. There was, what, less than one-tenth of humanity left? I don't think it should really be that surprising,"
"No. It was my fault," Pierce shook his head. "Kynigos told me how I died, specifically. He heard it from the future version of Boomer. The bad dragons tricked me and Grace into meeting them, pretending they wanted to make peace. But it was just a trap to get rid of Grace . . . and I fell for it. I was too trusting, I wanted so badly to believe that they were just like any of my beasts, and . . and we died, because I was naive! Because I wasn't careful enough! Because I didn't try hard enough to protect everyone!" he roared, his own fury with himself breaking through to the surface.
Erik flinched. Pierce was usually so laid-back, who knew he had a temper on him?
"I can't let that happen," The Beast Tamer looked positively demented at this, possessed by his own determination. "I'll protect them. I'll protect everyone,"
"Pierce, you're gonna run yourself ragged if you keep on like this," Erik pointed out.
"I don't care. I'd rather it be my life than theirs on the line,"
"Pierce!" The Poison Dragon Slayer placed both of his hands on the Tamer's shoulders, gripping them and holding him in place. "Do you really have that little faith in your friends?!"
The blond stopped, briefly stunned.
"They can protect themselves. I've heard about all the adventures your little group's been on, since before you even met me," Erik growled. "And it sounds to me like you all did a pretty good job of not dying way before you started going on about protecting your friends like a madman,"
"But - but they -"
"Your own future self's gotten inside your head. But listen to me; that future doesn't exist anymore. We destroyed it, remember? And right now, in this future, the most likely way that any member of Team Pierce is gonna die is you getting so overprotective that you get yourself killed shielding someone from an attack they could have avoided!" Erik snapped. "The rest of us aren't incompetent klutzes who need you protecting us 24/7. I'm not saying don't try to cover the rest of us, but have a little faith. You're not even the strongest member of your team, so don't be so big-headed!"
Pierce was momentarily struck dumb. ". . . yeah," he nodded.
"Good. Now, honestly. Let's get back to the others. And do us all a favour and keep your head screwed on straight from now on, alright? Or I might just have to beat the sense back into you," Erik snorted, trekking back out of the cave. After a moment, Pierce followed him.
To find three members of the royal yokai family shouting at one another. "And what makes you think you're entitled to treat that poor, disturbed human as a weapon? You should have gotten him therapy," Long shouted.
"Yeah? How many people do you have to kill before you're no longer entitled to human rights? One hundred? Two? Because, trust me, he met those criteria!" Yurei retorted, his tiny green form shouting with just as much volume as the massive orange dragon.
"It's not about how many have died at one's hands, it's about whether or not you have the ability to help them," the Yokai King sternly explained.
"Oh, don't talk down to me. I spent the last thousand years out in the world while you were cooped up in your little hole. There's an entire order of magnitude between my knowledge of humans and yours. And trust me, there's no helping someone like Aberforth. We're just lucky that I got some use out of him,"
Sarph inched over to Entropy. "They're really going at it. Should we intervene?"
She turned, a massive smile across her face. "Why? It's been so long since they had a good argument with each other. Don't ruin their fun,"
The knight sweatdropped. ". . Your family is weird," he sighed.
"And another thing, what the hell are you planning to do now?" Yurei challenged. "I'm guessing you don't want to just go back into those caves?"
"Oh, please. Entropy, dear? I think we should go travelling. See the world," Long declared, not even looking at his wife. "And that's an entire order of magnitude more of a plan than you have, boy," he triumphantly snorted at his son.
"That sounds nice," Entropy encouraged him, but husband and son ignored her.
"Bullshit! I have a plan for what to do next!" Yurei retorted. "And it's a hundred times better than your vague travelling plan,"
"Oh, do tell," Long sceptically snorted.
"So, do they just get a kick out of yelling at each other?" Grace questioned.
"They're competitive. It's in their blood," Entropy assured her.
"I'm going to join Phoenix's Eye," Yurei smugly declared. "That's gonna be way more exciting than plain old travel,"
There was a moment of silence. In unison, each member of Phoenix's Eye cried; "What?!"
"Oh, no way!" Kit suddenly appeared, growling at the Prince. "Phoenix's Eye is my guild! I'm not letting any other yokai in my guild!"
"What about me?" Siria interrupted, crouching next to the two feuding yokai.
"You're basically my niece, you're an exception," Kit waved her off.
"Kit, that's . . not exactly your decision to make. Only Master Feng can reject someone who wants to join the guild," Pierce informed him.
Kit just sulked at this.
"Then it's settled, Kitsunetsuki. I'm joining Phoenix's Eye," Yurei smugly told him.
"Would you stop calling me by my grandfather's name?!" Kit snapped.
Yurei paused. "Your . . eh?"
"I mean, sure, that's technically my name too, but no one actually uses it! You're just pissing me off!" Kit snapped.
"Wait. Your name isn't Kit?" Pierce raised a very confused eyebrow.
"Technically? My full name is Kitsunetsuki the Third. But my grandfather and father were hardcore yokai solitude . . ner . . ists, but I had enough contact with them to learn about what little yokai culture there was. And, apparently, I look exactly like my grandfather and someone can't tell the difference," the vulpine yokai growled.
Yurei had the decency to look abashed. "Oh . . apologies, Kitsu - Kit," he corrected himself.
Kit huffed. "Thank you,"
While this had been going on, Sarph, Cal and the Swordmaster had been having a private conversation. "So, master, what now?"
"Back to retirement, I suppose?" Cal checked.
The Swordmaster eyed both of his pupils. "Yes . . but I'm not taking you with me, Cal,"
". . Huh?"
"You've learned all you can from me. You have a lot of talent, and you deserve better than squandering your years taking care of an old man like me. Go with Sarph, and join Phoenix's Eye. You'll do better there,"
"I can't just leave you by yourself, master," Cal protested.
The amber eyepieces of the helmet glinted sternly. "That's an order," the Swordmaster rumbled.
Cal frowned, but nodded. "Yes, master,"
"Now, Mimic some water magic for me. I am terribly dehydrated. Damn cursed sword,"
A/N
A/N
. . . Wait did we seriously just get four new guild members in one story arc?
Eh, fine. There won't be any new recruits in the next couple of story arcs, it evens out.
And with that, the Sword of Destruction arc is over! I'll admit, this one got a bit choppy. I revised the plan for this one a lot, possibly more than I have any other arc in the story. The end result is that this arc is vastly different to what I originally had in mind. So, as a result, maybe it's not as coherent as I'd like. But so what? This is fanfiction. There are stories waaaaay worse than this in the archives, so I feel pretty good about it all the same.
Peace!
-[CoT]-
"So, Boomer?"
Boomer turned to Kit. "Yeah?"
The yokai had a mischievous grin. "How are we going to explain to the guild that you had a daughter with my great-grandmother?"
"I . . what?"
Grace cheekily grinned. "Hey, you totally did!"
"No . . I . ."
"We were all there. That's what happened," Pierce nodded, a smile playing over his lips.
"But . ."
"Wait, the Sonic Boom is full of Boomer's magic, and Entropy used it as a womb. That means Boomer is actually Siria's mother," Tyria corrected the group, and everyone nodded.
"That's not -" Boomer tried to protest.
"Mummy!" Siria suddenly burst out, affectionately nuzzling the Sound Wizard.
"I am too young and male to be the mother of a unicorn!" Boomer suddenly screamed, interrupting the discussion.
Siria recoiled, looking worried. "Maybe that was a little too far," Tyria guiltily mumbled.
"You don't want me?" the black unicorn mumbled.
The black-haired boy paused, seeing how upset she looked. He wrapped an arm around her neck. "Hey. I don't want people calling me your mother. But I'd be honoured to be your father. Okay?"
Siria smiled. "Okay!"