The 13 Immortals
Disclaimer:
UQ Holder! is owned by Ken Akamatsu and J. C. Staff
Okay…in spite of the lockdown imposed on my country due to the corona virus, I managed to finish this chapter ahead of the DEADLINE that I set…this is supposed to be up by next month, but decided to upload it now (along with the other fanfics I managed to finish) in anticipation that I might have difficulties in uploading future chapters in case the lockdown in my country extends, so for now enjoy this finished, if rushed, chapter…
Many thanks to those who read and reviewed this fic. I really appreciated it and this gave me inspiration to work on the next chapter and here the story advances forward as Touta remains under Yukihime's care, and soon he is about to face more encounters with what seemed to be a mysterious creature marking him…
And encounter someone who would eventually become his RIVAL…
In response to a question from a reviewer, yes, the UQ Holder members will appear soon, probably in a few chapters from now…but until then, the focus will be on Yukihime and Touta for the time being…
Well then, read on and enjoy!
Ch. 2: Bochi chikaku no kaibutsu
Several months have passed since that incident, life for Touta Konoe is anything but normal, as he is still adjusting to life after his last encounter with a mystical/magical creature that resembled a bio-mechanical, Japanese dragon, in which when at times when alone, Touta would be confronted by the dragon, as it is attempting to consume him.
Fortunately, Touta has since brought the SEAL card with him and figured that this card was what drove the dragon away during the first encounter, and the boy uses it to drive the dragon away, and since then he never leave his place without it, and though he is tempted to tell Yukihime about it, he opted not to as he doesn't want her to get involved.
However, his life isn't filled with running away from something he couldn't expect to deal with, as Yukihime began training Touta on how to defend himself, like teaching him with sword fighting and various martial arts, and though the younger boy learned quickly and gotten used to it, he is still a novice and oftentimes he attempted to challenge Yukihime to a duel as he wanted to visit the capital though she is against it, and said that if he managed to beat her then he can have permission.
"If you can beat me, then you can go."
"Really?"
"Yes. Really."
"Then let's fight!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay then…"
"Here I come!"
Touta uses all he has learned to challenge Yukihime, but for some reason she is a step ahead of him and soundly defeated the younger boy, and thus he is stuck in the rural village and had to endure the several months of living under her house rules.
After a few months passed, Touta turned 14, and he went to a cemetery to visit the grave of his parents, while his classmates can understand why he had to go there, which they understood that he needed to head there to pay his respects. Touta's classmates are wondering how life is after that incident two years ago, and felt that it would take some time for him to fully accept the fate.
The classmates, identified as:
- Shiraishi
- Nowa
- Gian
The three classmates wondered if Touta is doing okay despite him showing his cheerful, optimistic self, knowing that losing both his parents would be a huge emotional blow to his life, yet they are sure that if Touta is feeling down, he would have told them about it.
"Man…"
"I sure feel bad for Touta."
"Me too."
"Losing his parents are one thing…"
"But losing the memories of what his parents look like…that's harsh."
"But Touta seems to be okay with it."
"He sure is carrying such a burden."
"At least he's moving forward."
"You think so?"
-x-
At the cemetery, Touta is visiting the grave of his parents, in which he does this at a certain date, and he would bring flowers to the grave of his parents, whose names are engraved on their tombstones, where the names are seen, identifying them as :
- Haruka Konoe
- Jintetsu Konoe
Touta smiled at his parents' graves and said that he is doing fine, even though he is unable to recall their faces, but remember the times he spent with them, and said that he is able to move on thanks to Yukihime, and said that right now he had to put up with the village chief's rule that he cannot leave the village as of yet, but promised that he would follow his dream.
After some more minutes Touta bid goodbye as he is heading back home, and he recalled the object that he found a few months ago, in which he took it out from his pocket, in which it resembled a card deck, which was black, plain and no design. He stared at it and wondered what kind of object this is, as it has two cards, which are the SEAL and CONTRACT, and he stared at it, as he felt that the cards he found are what saved him from that dragon, and wondered if he should tell Yukihime about this.
"Maybe I should tell Yukihime and ask if she knows anything about this…"
Still, his upbeat personality got the better of him and did a fist bump, proclaiming that one day he'll follow his dream, still holding the card deck, and to his surprise, a metallic object appeared in front of him and fastened around his waist, which formed a metallic belt, and Touta wondered what just happened, as he never seen anything like this.
As Touta is trying to figure out why this metallic belt appeared and fastened around his waist, he did not notice that the man from before is observing him, and he is approaching him, with the intent of asking him a few questions, though he is eyeing at the belt that Touta is wearing, as he appeared to have the gist of what is happening to the boy.
As Touta is figuring things out, as he could not seem to get the metallic belt off him, the young man, who appeared to be in his late teens, about 19 years old, is approaching the distracted Touta. He is wearing black pants, a black shirt and a black trench coat. He removed his shades as he approached Touta and he appeared to be serious-minded as he stood in front of the younger boy.
Touta looked up and saw the man standing before him, and wondered what the person wants. The man, identified as Ren Akihiro, is poised to ask him where he got the card deck, and wanted to know if Touta has any idea what he is getting himself into.
"Hey, kid."
"Yes?"
"Where did you get it?"
"The what?"
"That deck."
"Huh? You mean this?"
"Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into?"
"Huh?"
However, the interrogation is interrupted when another creature appeared, which resembled a huge, bio-mechanical spider, and there Ren is dismayed that his interrogation has been interrupted, but tells Touta to run if he doesn't want to die immediately, which baffled the younger boy.
Touta asked what Ren mean by that, but the older teen tells Touta to run now if he wants to live, saying that this is not the place where KIDS ENGAGE IN KIDDIE GAMES, which further irked the younger boy, telling him that he is 14 years old.
"Hey! I'm not a kid!"
"You are!"
"I just turned 14!"
"Then you're still a kid! Run now!"
"Why?"
"That thing will eat you!"
"For real?"
"You sure are daft!"
Ren ignored the younger boy as he took out something from his pocket, which Touta saw that it was a hand-sized, black-colored card deck that is similar to the one he is holding, and there Ren held the card deck and hold it in a straight position, where a metallic belt appeared and fastened around his waist, which Touta realized that what he saw just now is the same thing that happened to him.
Then Ren slinks the card deck onto the center portion of the belt, like slinking a card onto a deck, which the card deck is slotted onto the belt, forming a belt buckle, and there Ren chanted something while doing a transformation pose.
"Henshin!"
Then an armor formed around Ren's body, which has the motif of a European knight, and as Touta glanced at the now-armored Ren, he saw that the card deck has a symbol of a bat engraved onto it, and there the armored Ren, who goes by his designated name Yami-Ki (Dark Knight), is armed with a rapier and charged forward, and engages into battling the giant spider-like creature.
Touta watched the scene in front of him as he is taken aback at what he just saw and staring at the card deck that he is holding, he wondered what to do next, until he slowly finds himself drawn to the battle as he recalled the training he received from Yukihime and a teacher, Touta decided to join in, and doing what Ren did, he slots the card deck onto the belt, and soon he is encased in an armor, though it was pale black and simplistic.
The armored Touta watches on as Yami-Ki took out a card from the card deck and slots it into the rapier, revealing that the weapon also doubles as a card reader, and there the rapier spoke as it confirms the card's activation.
Rapier: "SWORD VENT…"
Suddenly, a creature appeared, which resembled a giant, mechanical bat, and as it flew, its body glowed and dropped something, which turns out to be a lance, and there Yami-Ki saw Touta already transformed and tells Touta not to get himself involved, or else he will be dragged in and has no chance of getting himself out of the predicament he is already in.
"Get out of here!"
"Eh?"
"This doesn't involve you!"
"But…"
"You're no match for that thing!"
"How so? I'm training myself…"
"This isn't a kiddie game! Get lost or you'll regret it!"
"What?"
Touta is baffled by this, yet he couldn't bring himself to ignore what he is seeing, and emulating what Yami-Ki just did, he took a card from the card deck, and looked at it, revealing that he gained an extra card, which says SWORD VENT, and he decided to try it out.
He glanced at his left arm, which appeared to be a gauntlet-like device that is mounted on his left forearm, and he instinctively slots the card in, where the device spoke and confirmed the card's activation, which surprised Touta.
Device: "SWORD VENT…"
A sword fell from the sky and landed on the ground, and Touta glanced at it, seeing that it looked like an ordinary katana, which he was expecting that he would get a cool-looking weapon, but decided that this would do and decided to take it, then charged towards the spider-like monster, intending to attack it with everything he has.
Yami-Ki told Touta not to get himself involved, but Touta said he is not the kind who would ignore things, and said that if that thing gets away it might attack the village he is staying at, and that is something he cannot allow to happen.
"Don't do it!"
"Eh?"
"This doesn't involve you!"
"I am! I can't let that thing go…!"
"You're no match for that thing!"
"Maybe…but if that thing arrived at the village I'm staying…many will be in danger…and that's something I can't let that happen!"
"This isn't a kiddie game! Get lost or you'll regret it!"
"Sue me!"
As Yami-Ki backed away, the armored Touta takes a swing, hitting the spider-like creature with the sword, but upon impact, the sword's blade shattered, and the spider uses its legs to kick Touta back, and he is seen rolling a few meters away, just as Yami-Ki sighed in annoyance, seeing that the younger boy can really be thick-headed at times.
The then took out another card and slotted it into the rapier to activate the card's next attack.
Rapier: "FINAL VENT…"
The bat creature then appeared and swoops down, just as Yami-Ki ran towards the spider, and as Touta shouts at Yami-Ki that he is about to be attacked, the armored younger boy stared in surprise as the bat creature latched itself onto Yami-Ki's back, its wings turn into a cape, and there the armored knight jumped upward, reaching a high distance, and then descends.
There the cape began wrapping itself around the armored knight, forming a drill and then Yami-Ki swoops down in great speed and crushes the spider, seemingly destroying it. As the smoke cleared, Yami-Ki stood there, as there are no traces of the spider left behind.
He then approaches Touta, asking him if he has a death wish, which made the younger boy taken aback, and asked what did the other person mean by that. Yami-Ki stared at Touta, seeing that the younger boy is really oblivious to what he is getting himself into and said that either he surrenders the card deck or he would be forced to get himself killed, which made Touta feel defensive and demanded to know what Yami-Ki's problem is.
"What the heck is your problem?"
"Give me the card deck."
"What for?"
"It doesn't suit you…or better yet…you're not meant to wield it."
"Why?"
"You're better off not knowing it. Unless…you've become…"
"You're no making sense here."
"…"
As the two armored person stared at each other, they did not notice that Yukihime is passing by, and she was alerted by the sound of explosion and upon arriving she saw the two armored person, and while intrigued, she noticed that the other person in armor has the same height as Touta, and noticed that the two persons are near the cemetery where Touta's parents are buried.
There Yukihime began to deduce that the person in armor, who is shorter than the other armored person is Touta, and she wondered what Touta is doing and where he got the armor.
"That must be Touta…but…where did he get that armor…? And who's the other guy…?"
Suddenly, the bio-mechanical-looking dragon appeared, and it seemed to be heading towards where the armored Touta and Ren are standing, and as Yami-Ki is poised to face it, he realized that the dragon is closing in, and thus he has no time to draw out the cards he has, and he tells Touta to start running if he doesn't want to get killed by the dragon.
Touta asked him if he knows anything about that dragon, and all Yami-Ki said that he has been hunting that dragon, and it is immensely strong, and that the dragon gets powered up by eating people, and said that Touta is among the dragon's meal target.
"What?"
"You heard me! That dragon wants you for lunch!"
"Seriously?"
"You want to die?"
"No way!"
"Then start running!"
"Geez!"
"Keep running for you'll become chow!"
"This isn't what I'm trained for!"
As Yami-Ki ran off, Touta followed, as the dragon swoops down and roared, where it began to spit out fireballs, hitting the ground, but the two armored persons managed to dodge them yet they are still in danger as the dragon keeps on chasing them.
Yukihime wondered where the dragon came from, but then she heard the two armored person bickering loudly, and upon hearing them, she stared in shock as she recognized Touta's voice, and there the dragon gets closer, and fired a strong fireball, hitting the ground, which is engulfed in flames, and the impact sends both the armored Ren and Touta getting thrown off the ground.
To Be Continued...
Hope you liked this chapter, as it served as an alternate retelling of UQ Holder, and while this chapter somewhat retains some of its origin, it diverges a bit, as Touta encountered a MAGICAL CREATURE of sorts, and managed to scare it away with what appeared to be a tarot card…and yet he is forbidden to leave the rural village…
This chapter also briefly recreated the scene where Touta visits the grave of his parents, and this is where things diverge a bit, as the man who appeared to be watching/observing either Touta or Yukihime in the last chapter resurfaces, where he gets to shine here…especially where he also possess a similar card deck just like the one Touta is holding.
The card decks that Touta and Ren are holding revealed the hidden functions, but for some reason Touta's cards appeared to be useless, and now the dragon appeared and is ready to consume its targets in a FIERY fashion.
Yukihime shows up, and now she is forced to watch seeing Touta in danger…
Preview:
The next chapter will reveal on what will happen, as to whether Touta survives the dragon's onslaught or not…
See you in six weeks (probably around late April)…
Reviews are welcomed, but needed…