Hello once again! As usual it's that point where 90% of you skip me answering questions to get on with the story!
Darkmaster10000000: Yes! Yes! Embrace the cheese! No seriously embrace it, it won't be all that common whatsoever for at least pre-canon.
xPricefieldx: I probably will eventually compile the omakes into their own fic at some point. Most likely when I plan to have my two breaks over the course of this fic. Ideally you could just always go back and read them after catching up if you just wanna blitz through. It's pretty easy to tell which chapters have them and which don't.
Lord-of-walruses: Y'know I may eventually do an FF14 fic one day. I'd need a refresher on the story and side quests on top of a myriad of other hurdles to eventually do it, but the idea is on my radar.
Okay you impatient people, here's the chapter. Enjoy!
The pair of clashing warriors danced around the bridge in a dance that requires inhuman movements and agility. Matt's arms closer resembled blurs than anything remotely solid as he parried and blocked attacks from eight separate sources, all the while making sure his footwork keeps him ready for any offensive opportunity. Gilgamesh had a wide smile across his face as the teen he fought against held his own even against four times the pressure.
As Matt deflected the spear and saw the hand claws incoming, his opportunity arose. Using the odd end of Oathkeeper, he jammed the end of the blade into the open slots of the claws. With as much strength as his body could muster, he yanked the limb down and leapt up, twisting midair to wrap the end of Oblivion right at the man's neck. Unfortunately Gilgamesh was a quick thinker and used his free hand to grab Matt's overextended leg and chucked him across from his own position, dislodging his blade from the claws too.
While in the air, Matt spun and threw the black blade as hard as he could. The weapon carved into the stone and came to a stop. Matt twisted himself and used the propped blade the stop his roll, his weight sending it grinding through the stone another ten feet until the improvised pillar came to a atop.
The teen stood atop the weapon, wiping the blood away from his forehead to prevent the ruby fluid from blinding him. Both men were coated in lacerations all over, blood freely dripping from various points off their bodies. His gaze was solely focused on the eight-foot giant in front of him.
"Hahahaha! Magnificent!" The man praised as he tossed his cracked weapon away. "I'll need a higher caliber of weapon if I wish to defeat you!" He did just that as every weapon was replaced by a seemingly stronger version of the last, though Matt raised a brow as the gold ones. Did the man think fancy appearance equaled a higher quality of weapon?
Matt opted to keep his mouth shut about that as he could inadvertently disadvantage himself. He stepped off the blade and kicked it into the air, catching it easily before it landed back on the ground and immediately breaking into a charge.
Imagine Gilgamesh's shock when the teen chucked the two weapons at him. The man quickly deflected the objects, but the distraction proved strong enough for Matt to slip between the man's legs. Gilgamesh was then tipper back by a pair of hammer's shooting out from the tips of his feet. As the large man fell back, Matt wrapped as much of his arms as he could around the man's waist.
With absurd abdominal strength for a teenager, Matt lifted the man overhead and assaulted him with a german suplex hard enough to crack the ground around the pair a good fifteen feet.
Gilgamesh's eyes bugged out as his head was driven into the ground like a spike, all the while Matt perfectly arched his back to make sure the man became a human golf tee. When the man was neck-deep in the cobblestone, Matt let go and kicked himself to an upright position, backing off and calling his blades back to his hands from the ground. The teen breathed rather heavily after that display of strength, he hoped a concussion would reward his efforts, but those were dashed as the giant merely rolled his body back and lifted his head up.
The kabuki oni spat out some rubble before wickedly grinning, "Good try! But you've a long way to go before you do that to trains!"
Matt's eye twitched at the absurdity of that statement, but decided it was best to ignore it, his efforts better spent figuring out how to at the very least incapacitate the warrior standing before him.
Without wasting a moment, the duo immediately resumed their clash. Sparks flying off their weapons as the steel groaned in agony over the abuse it was receiving from the clash of the two mages. Matt bobbed and weaved against any attack the man flung past his defenses. Gilgamesh was able to simply parry or guard the attacks due to all his extra arms providing ample support. Little did he know that Matt already had a good idea on how to make use of the extra limbs for his counterattack.
The two clashed and held steadfast against each others strength, until the teen locked Gilgamesh's weapons in place thanks to Scatter Point also being able to shoot horizontally now.
"What's this?!" Gilgamesh cried as he desperately tried to yank his weapons free, however his eyes widened as he realized the manner in which they were locked prevented him from letting go as his arms were tangled uncomfortably.
Gilgamesh was too distracted to notice Matt cock his fist back and drive the limb straight into his solar plexus, the hand sinking into the abundant flesh of the man. Matt hissed in pain as it felt like he just punched through a cinderblock wall, but pressed onwards as his foe spat out bile and walked back, clutching the impact zone.
Matt breathed heavily as Gilgamesh fell to his knees.
"Not…. bad." He wheezed out as he literally felt his organs slide back into place after that punch. "It looks like I've only got enough left in me for one more blow." The man rose to his feet, his extra arms disappearing. "Be honored young warrior, none have seen this blade and lived to tell the tale!"
The teen clicked his tongue and dislodged his weapons from the mess he created.
A golden glow appeared in Gilgamesh's hands as he placed one atop the other, both slightly open as the blade was summoned. In his hands was a beautiful, ornate blade of gold that glowed in the sunlight.
Matt dryly swallowed as he scowled at the weapon, preparing himself for a potential bloodbath.
"Now witness the unrivaled power!" Gilgamesh took a stance and charged, his stomps sending the rubble into the air slightly. "EXCALIPOOR!"
Matt's black blade surgee forward to meet the sword when-
WHOOSH
The golden sword broke in half at the millisecond of contact.
""…"" Both men stared at the sight, slowly blinking and not speaking.
Matt looked back to Oblivion, then back to Excalipoor, then back to Gilgamesh who was now nervously sweating.
The teen then stood upright and waked over to the raised ledge of the bridge. He swung the blade at the lip, shattering the nearly broken sword after all that fighting. He raised a brow at Gilgamesh, wondering what the man was thinking.
'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-' Sweat poured down his brow like a broken faucet.
"Bakawk…" Even the painted chicken was embarrassed for the man.
"AHAHAHA! SO YOU HAVE BESTED THE FAKE I TESTED YOU WITH!" He boasted loudly to the teen.
"Wait wha-"
"BUT FOR NOW MY RIVAL!" He de-summoned the blade, "OUR DUEL ENDS FOR NOW!" Then he ran towards the ledge. "UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!"
The chicken then caught up to him as he leapt off and grabbed onto the small legs of the creature.
"FLY ENKIDU! FLY!" The poor chicken flapped as hard as it could with Gilgamesh trying to swim in the air with the motions of his legs, until…
They both fell like a sack of rock into the ocean.
"... I'm not paid enough for this." The teen groaned and allowed his weapons to disappear before stretching. "Now then, where to go next?" He pondered with a hand to his chin before he felt a draft of air from below. "Oh?"
Matt looked down where Gilgamesh's head had sunk into the stone and found the area to be hollow.
"Hmmm. I could spend time channeling my inner Sherlock Holmes to find the switch." He put a hand to his chin. "Ooooor." Matt drew a card and summoned Dark Magician who blasted a hole into the floor, revealing a staircase. "Holmes never had high-grade explosives… or did he?" The teen shrugged after that thought and descended the stairs after ordering Dark Magician to watch the ship.
"I swear to god if I find a zombie down here I will make Red-Eyes carpet bomb this place." Matt sighed as he made his way down the steps which echoed out somewhere.
Eventually he found the point of interest, the stairs led out into a massive tunnel system. This was Ouryuu, a hidden system used by the military back when these islands served as a major naval base for Enca in the first Trade War. Transportation of weapons, parts, supplies and the like all transpired here, out of sight and out of mind.
"Huh, modern engineering be damned." He saw the four massive passageways and scratched his head before playfully twirling his finger. "Eenie meenie miney- this one." Matt walked off into a random tunnel.
Siegrain swore as he dodged another of his own fireballs, this one firing at him from the shadow of a large rock.
'There has to be some method to this magic!' The bluenette ran to take cover behind a tree, the distant cries of Cosmo barely audible to him. He'd already drawn the conclusion that as long as he didn't attack, she couldn't miraculously teleport them to him via a shadow.
"Fufufu." The girl chuckled, "What's the matter? Scared of the Great Ninja?!" Her taunt was blatantly obvious, but to Siegrain, it confirmed she didn't know where he was.
A temporary sigh of relief escaped from the teen as he regained the edge of the fight. Now the next step was figuring out how to even land a hit on the girl.
As he began thinking things over, the girl chucked some shuriken into a shadow.
Siegrain placed a hand over his mouth as he felt cold steel pierce his flesh. With his head shaking in pain, he saw that a group of shuriken had impaled themselves into his soft flesh, blood leaking from the wounds slowly, but surely.
"Oh? He's a tough one." The girl mused as Cosmo yelled at her, still helplessly suspended in the air, his magic having absolutely zero medium, or even long range attacks. "Would you pipe down already?!" She yelled at the man and placed a shadow over his mouth, silencing him.
After pulling out the shuriken of his back, biting his belt while doing so, Siegrain once again got to thinking after setting up a rock wall behind himself.
'She's somehow hitting me without even being in sight. Let alone the fact her attacks are completely untraceable.' However, that thought made him pause. 'Wait. No. That's not right at all. Every magic has an explanation and a weakness. Think. She uses some kind of shadow magic. And she compliments it with weapons. Any attack I throw at her gets eaten up by the shadow and launched directly at me. I'd attempt the reverse, but I can't risk giving away my position.'
The girl sighed as she pulled out a kunai, "Guess I'll have to be a bit more cruel then." She grimaced as she stabbed the shadow, the blade disappearing and coming to a hard stop as she knew it met flesh. The girl winced as she twisted the blade and pulled it back, the end smeared with the familiar red liquid.
Siegrain panted in agony as the blade exited his shoulder. As he writhed on the ground for a moment, he caught a glimpse of something that made his pained expression twist into a murderous glee.
Yuffie turned to face the rustling bushes as Siegrain came charging out, firing a typical fireball.
"This again?" She sighed and willed the shadow to eat the attack, her exasperated expression with her eyes closed made her miss an object being flung right by her. That face morphed as a hot, searing pain consumed her back and flung her off the tree branch she'd grown so attached to. "W-what?!"
As the girl fell, she summoned a shadow which she dove into, disappearing from sight.
"Aaaaaaaaahhhh!!!" Cosmo, now free from his shadow bindings, fell onto a large bush that broke his fall. He lifted his head and spat out some leaves and twigs that'd gotten into his mouth. "Siegrain!" The man got up and ran over to the teen who was clutching his shoulder. "How'd you do that?!"
The teen smirked, "Simple, those shuriken she chucked at us earlier were a distraction. What she actually did was stab our shadows with special black shuriken. They seemed to act like tracers that allowed her to attack any target she choses with the tag on or even move to them."
"Nice!" Cosmo exclaimed with a fist pump, "Now we know her trick so she can't do it anymore!" A wide smirk was across his face, an opposite expression to Siegrain's own.
"Maybe, but don't rule anything out. For all we know this could've just been the easy phase she uses to start out fights." He kept an eye out for any anomalies in the surroundings.
"Y-yeah, you're right." Cosmo nodded firmly and went back-to-back with the teen.
Any brush of wind or simple animal noise would cause the two to immediately tense. They remained like this for a few moments, sweat beading down Cosmo's head.
"M-Maybe she left? She hasn't shown herself since that attack backfired?" The Phantom Lord mage nervously glanced back-and-forth.
"No. If she claims to be a ninja, let alone a great one, then I've little doubt she's watching us right now. Taking this fight seriously like she should've from the start." His words only caused Cosmo to tense even further before Siegrain realized something. "Cosmo?"
"Yeah?"
"Did she throw anything at you while you were suspended?"
"… I-I don't think so-"
"Move!!!" The teen mule kicked the other mage away and rolled forward, both barely dodging the blades of the girl who shot up from Cosmo's shadow.
"You won't get me this time!" As the older mage rushed forward, his body slowly morphing into a new form, the girl flung a kunai at him, cutting the soft flesh of the eyelid. "GAH!!" He stopped transforming and fell to the ground, clutching the cut flesh as blood poured from the wound.
Siegrain went on the offensive, shooting out a scatter blast of flames which the girl dodged with ease and expertise. The teen clicked his tongue as the girl kept her momentum as she dodged and advanced towards him.
He ducked under the pair of chucked weapons and guarding a crushing axe kick, his forearms trembling in pain. Siegrain slid his arms apart and gripped the leg, throwing the girl towards a towering tree.
The girl seamlessly pulled out another knife and dug it into the tree, grinding around the trunk and using the physics to launch her right back at Siegrain who met the foot with his arms again, his body sliding back and digging into the ground.
Siegrain cried out in pain as a shuriken dug into his back.
'When the hell?!' As he tried to contemplate when she managed to nail his shadow with another of her tracers, Yuffie used the opening to leap over the teen and dig her heel into the back of his head, sending him face-first into the ground.
The girl twisted herself midair and landed with her hands up like she was waiting for applause, a smug expression on her face.
"Now then criminal scum, I'll make sure you both get what's coming to you-" The girl was cut off by a flare flying high into the air. "Huh?! But Bo~ss." She complained like a child and stamped her feet a bit before sighing. "Well, it looks like you managed to get off easy this time. But next time, the Great Ninja Yuffie will not take it easy on you!" The girl then disappeared into her own shadow, leaving the pair of defeated mages on the ground.
Cosmo got up first, clutching his eye in pain. Thankfully it only cut the eyelid, not the actual eye itself.
"Hey Siegrain, you alright?" He walked over to the teen who had just dug his head out of the ground.
The older man backed off as he saw the aura of pure fury emanating from his body. Siegrain punched the ground in pure ire as he soaked in his extremely easy loss. Theoretically, he could have beaten her if he didn't feel the need to keep his true magic under wraps like this.
Next time would be different.
Next time, no idea of mercy would taint his conscience.
Ken spat out a wad of blood in his mouth from the now broken tooth Hina had sent flying. The girl still looking incredibly guilty over that as she got back up, clutching her bruised ribs.
'Looks like this guy can swap the positions of anything his clackers are snared around.' He yanked the cord off his arm and threw it to the ground. 'However, I doubt that's his only trick. He still wouldn't be that confident if I just figured out his secret.'
True enough, Joseph still retained an air of confidence as he smirked at the duo of Rune Knights.
"Insect Soul: Flannel Moth!" A pair of wings sprouted on Ken's back as he shot up into the air.
"Hoho? Flight won't give you the superiority you think it does!" Joseph smirked as he chucked a volley of Clackers at the Rune Knight.
"Who says the flight is what I was going for?" Ken spun and allowed his wings to stiffen.
Joseph contemplated the meaning for a moment before going wide-eyed.
A barrage of spines shot out of the wings, this species of moth known from being the evolved form of a rather venomous caterpillar.
The young man dove behind a house, the structure being riddled with the attack as it broke the windows and shredded the walls.
"People live there you bastard!" Joseph criticized the recklessness of the Rune Knight.
"So? We'll help rebuild later." The man used the same response he'd been using for years by now when that complaint came up. "For now, taking you down and saving the hostages is priority number one."
"That's a riot coming from you!" Joseph launched a counterattack by ricocheting some clackers off the neighboring houses wall.
Ken dodged the attack as Hina circled around, moving at surprising speeds for her stature. Her palm strikes were all dodged by a hairs breadth as Joseph was pushed out into the open where Ken was now on the ground, changing in himself with odd, pointed nails on his hands.
"Oh no, I'm cornered!" Joseph cried out as Ken was just about to jab him with the stingers. "Kidding!" Joseph vanished by shattering into a million pieces like glass.
The Rune Knights couldn't believe the man also used Illusion magic, but that was on the backburner as Ken couldn't stop his arm from jabbing Hina's own.
"Shit!" He swore as Hina fainted into his arms. Acting quickly, Ken cut his palm open and fed the blood into Hina's mouth. Ken was able to convert his blood into an antidote for the countless poisons and venoms his transformations allowed. Thankfully this was a simple paralysis venom, so nothing major would have happened regardless.
Slowly, the girl regained motor function and consciousness. "Ken?"
"It's alright, the venom was just a paralysis type, let my antidote take effect before doing anything drastic." He reassured the girl with a warm smile.
"Goodness gracious, what a tender moment between two lovers." Joseph sarcastically cooed and fluttered his eyes.
"We aren't lovers!" Ken and Hina shared a blush of embarrassment.
"Huh? You're joking right?" Joseph looked at them with a flat expression. "I almost feel sorry for the dirty pirates you two bunk with if that's how you are." He shook his head in exasperation.
"Pirates? We're Rune Knights!" Ken was genuinely offended at that mess up.
"Yeah, yeah, that's what the last two groups said too." Joseph rolled his eyes.
"Last two groups…?" The Rune Knight pondered those words before Joseph readied another attack.
"Now let's continue!" The weapons spun around his fingers before disappearing suddenly. "Clacker Volley!" A torrent of the weapons shot towards the duo, Ken taking Hina into his arms and flying up with hornet wings.
"Illusion magic and some kind of swapping magic with those damn Clackers. On top of that he knows his way around a fight, no wonder he and this group were all S-Class." Ken clicked his tongue as he tried to come up with a plan.
"Ken." Hina spoke with a firmer tone, "I have an idea."
The man looked surprised for a moment, but smiled and nodded, agreeing to the plan.
"What are those two doing up there?" Joseph scowled as he looked at the duo hovering above his range. His gut told him to run away and change the battlefield, disrupting their plan, however…
His gaze shifted to a large bush in the center of a small park in the town, resolve reentering his eyes as he glared at the duo in the sky. Joseph punched his open palm and steeled himself for the next round of the battle.
Ken took the initiative by charging at the man from the sky, Hina locked in his arms.
'A suicide charge?' Joseph questioned as he once again shot out a volley of Clackers, however to his shock, the man just took the hits, guarding the woman with his wings while he divebombed.
"Heh, you're certainly a nutcase! I'm afraid to say that kind of trick won't do you any good-" It was then that Joseph noticed the volley of barbs heading right at him. He kept his cool and used an illusion to pretend he didn't notice and snuck off for an opportunity to sneak attack.
Ken crashed down, kicking up a cloud of dust as Joseph went in for a sneak attack, ready to finish off the pair.
That is until he felt a palm practically dislocate his jaw and knock him through a wall.
Hina smirked as she saw past the Illusion thanks to her eyes, another perk of her blindness. Illusions and eye magic don't even vaguely get to her, hence why the earlier stunt Joseph pulled fooled her as it wasn't an illusion.
"Good job Hina." Ken praised the girl as he dusted himself off.
"Th-thank you." She looked away with a blush on her cheeks.
The rubble atop Joseph was kicked off as the youth dusted himself off, clutching his aching jaw.
'Tch. So she can see past illusions huh? And with that guy figuring out my Clacker trick, misdirection is gonna be hard. I could go all out, but that puts them at risk.' Joseph cursed as he tried to figure out a plan.
Thankfully for him, it came in the form of a flare being shot into the sky.
"Ho? So the Boss is calling us back eh?" The youth smirked at the duo. "Well then, it's time for me to end this fight with my secret trump card!" He boasted adamantly as the Rune Knights were put on guard.
"NIGERUNDAYO!!!" He then ran off at a phenomenal speed.
Both Mages stood stupefied at that rather… odd technique.
"Did… did he just run away?" Ken blinked in disbelief.
"Well, it is a viable strategy." Hina rationalized the decision as best as she could.
"W-wait! Damnit! I didn't get to question him!" Ken swore at his blunder as Hina chuckled at the sight. "Ah well, the civilians are the top priority anyways." He sighed and walked into the center of town. "Now then, where the hell are they?"
"Ah, wait a moment Ken!" Hina stopped the man and placed her hands to hit chin. A brilliant golden light came from them momentarily. She placed her hands back down when the job was done.
The Captain felt around and noticed the missing tooth had grown back perfectly fine.
"I always forget you also have healing magic." He warmly smiled at her, "Thank you Hina."
"U-uh, it's nothing Ken." She looked away from him with a blush.
The pair then got back on track, Ken used the odd senses Insects natively posess to pinpoint any odd heat signatures, this method came up positively for him.
The pair approached the large bush in the park, ken ripped it away to reveal a steel trapdoor in the ground.
"Huh, guess its a remnant of when this place was Encan territory a hundred years back." Ken crouched and pulled a lever, opening the hatch. "Well I'll be damned." He started at the sight with a smile.
"Mwahahaha!!! You can't stop the strongest with things like that!" Cirino boasted as she launched another barrage of icicles at the two women in front of her.
Yoru easily dodged them while Ultear used her magic to melt them. They'd been like this for a moment now, a complete stalemate with no real end in sight.
"How you holding up Ultear?" Yoru dodged another spear of ice.
"Physically? Perfectly fine. Magically? I'd be lying if I didn't say this constant use was starting to get to me." Some vague sweat formed on her brow as she melter another section of the frosted floor and the assault heading her way.
'She's strong, but even she's got a limit. I'll need to think of something quick if we wanna win this.' Yoru waa starting to get frustrated by the fact this girl was able to just abuse powerful ice magic over and over without any sign of exhaustion. Even someone like Sarutobi would be nearing exhaustion at the point she was at. There had to be a trick to her magic.
'Could she be a Slayer Wizard?' She observed the normal ice color and the spell names and quickly threw that out the window. 'Her magic seems bottomless, she must be getting more from some kind of source!' Yoru bounced off a tree and axe kicked a hunk of ice to the ground, embedding it to the earth away from the duo.
This was when Yoru noticed something odd. The ice they had broken remained there on the ground. Normally ice magic that's broken dissipates into Ethernano and returns to the earth. The basic principle of Ethernano involves the mage absorbing it from the air. It's in the air because of the trees taking it from leylines. Those leylines have magic in them from magical beings dying and their bodies decomposing in the earth.
'That's it!' Yoru grinned wickedly as she landed back with Ultear.
"I have a plan." She confidentially spoke to the teen.
"I'm all ears." Ultear was just about ready to go with any kind of method right now.
What she did not expect was Yoru lifting her over her shoulder and then running away, deeper into the forest.
"The hell are you doing? The fights that way!" She pointed at an angry Cirino giving chase, freezing more and more of the forest as she flew at them.
"It's all part of the plan, just focus on getting rid of any projectiles heading our way!"
Ultear sighed and did as she was told, the long chase around the island uncomfortable for the girl in a fireman'a carry. The thought of a shirtless Matt carrying her like a princess made some blood shoot from her nose like a hose.
"You okay back there?!" Yoru shouted as she zipped across the branches.
"I'm fine! Everything is fine! Don't worry about the abs!"
"The what?"
"ADS! I'LL KILL THE ICE ADS! YOU JUST RUN!"
Yoru wanted to question what the hell an "ad" was, but decided teasing the girl over her extreme lust for Matt's body could wait until later. What? She enjoys dumb teen romance just like any single 20 year-old woman. Especially when one was oblivious and the other was painfully thirsty but refused to admit the notion. Now that is some fun entertainment.
Speaking of entertainment, Cirino was getting really tired of this.
"D-damnit! Just. Get. Back here!" She huffed and puffed more and more as the chase continued.
'Looks like my guess was right!' Yoru smirked. Cirino seemed to be able to refuel her magic at an accelerated rate, however this was rendered impossible if she magically froze all he ground and trees, thereby kneecapping her own source of fuel. Since Yoru and Ultear did the rational thing of breaking and melting the ice, this allowed Cirino to effectively have infinite magic power as long as she didn't go crazy and freeze everything… something she did quite often if you were to ask her group. Most doubted the girl even realized this massive advantage she had over other mages, but realized she wouldn't even adjust if told and decided it wasn't worth the effort.
Eventually, the girl crashed and burned onto the frozen ground. Her barely conscious body sliding across it like a figure skater until she went face-first into a frozen tree.
Yoru and Ultear landed after the later melted the ice. She then used some of this water to clean the mess her face was while Yoru went over to interrogate the girl.
"Well well, looks like this is the end of the line for you." The woman squatted down by the girl, fully confident she wouldn't be fighting anytime soon. "Now then, how about you tell us what's going on here?"
"I'll never talk…. pirate scum." Her voice was loopy and easily concussed.
"Pirates? We aren't pirates, we're Rune Knights." Yoru raised a brow at the odd mixup.
"Sure you are. That's what both of em' said before you."
"Do you mean the other two ships in the dock? Those weren't Rune Knight ships, those were trader vessels by the looks of things." Ultear added, finally joining in.
"Nuh-uh, those people were fakers! They tried to rob the place! Just like you are!"
"Were there any reports of stolen uniforms?" Ultear asked the Captain.
"Hmmm. Not from Fiore, but I can see it happening in a palace where we aren't as major of a force, like Caelum or Enca." The girl drew vague conclusions.
"Ah! There you are Cir!" A new voice joined the fray as Yuffie hopped from a shadow. "Didn't you see the flare? The boss wants us together ASAP!"
"Flare? Nah, I was busy." The girl lazily responded after picking her ear and flicking the wax away.
"Well you're a new face. Got a name?" Yoru stood ready for a fight with Ultear.
"I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie! And I'm here," she wrapped a shadow around Cirino, taking her elsewhere. "For her." She pointed at the former location of the girl. "Now then, goodbye!"
"Wait!" Yoru tried to grab her, but just missed as she vanished into a shadow. "Damn, what the hell is going on? Why were there pirates posing as Rune Knights?"
"Perhaps I could explain." The girls turned to see an elderly man approach them with a cane in hand. "I am Hester, an elder of these islands."
"Finally, a native." Ultear sighed in relief.
"Where the hell are you guys? What even happened?" Yoru questioned the man.
"Perhaps a warmer place would do better for a chat, follow me, I have a fresh pot of tea brewing back home."
Both girls looked at each other and shrugged before following him back to his village.
"BO~SS! YOU WON'T BELIEVE THE SCOOP I JUST GOT!" A young reporter barged into Date's office.
"Easy there Keighley," the man was a half-done smoke in his mouth and a cup of steaming-hot coffee on his desk, complimenting the disheveled and tired look he had. "Now what's this all about?"
"Okay." The young man took a seat across from the former Rune Knight. "So apparently some guy busted into this prison called uh…" He looked at his notepad, "Naraka."
Date spat out his coffee in shock and violently coughed, "Someone did what?!"
"That's not even the end of it! According to my source, he hijacked a Fioran battleship and used that to carry out all the prisoners with him! They even formed a dark guild!"
The older man sighed and rubbed his temples, "Keep going."
"Right! Well it seems like the Council went nuts and ordered an extermination on them! Apparently they got the 5 strongest readily available Captains and five bigwig Fioran Mages to help out."
Date stood up and walked over to a whiteboard, uncapping a pen. "Names?"
"Uhhh, let's see here.. Ah! Cosmo Porla of Phantom Lord, Ultear Malkovich who's independent, Siegrain who's also independent, Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale, Yato Long who's in charge of Southern Seven, Hina Hugo who's manages western Bosco, Ken Sasaki who takes care of Eastern Fiore, Yoru Shiho who looks over northern Minstrel."
"Hell of a strike force…" Date wrote the names down, realizing that such a response is probably neccessary for whoever the hell took down that hell pit by themselves.
"Now these last two are the real juicy ones!" He excitedly bounced in the chair.
"Just get to it." Date rolled his eyes.
"Matthew Atlas of Fairy Tail and Captain Sarutobi the head Captain of western Ishgar!"
"Hahahaha!!!" Date broke into roaring laughter, clutching his sides as the long-extinguished cigarette fell to the floor.
"B-boss?" The reporter raised a brow.
"N-no it's not you. Sorry about that. Heheheh." He wiped a tear from his eye. "It's just, I can't imagine either of those two losing any time soon. Especially ol' Saru."
"Oh yeah, you did work with him before." The young man recalled his boss's background.
"Yup. That man is as taciturn and strict as they come, but we had a nickname for him."
"Is it the one about his virginity?"
"Ha! No, that was in school." He chuckled at the memory. "Whenever we did a high-risk low-reward job, he always had this switch he flipped against a genuine opponent he wanted to beat."
"Well? What was it?"
Date sat back down and lit a new smoke, taking a ling drag and exhaling the smoke before smirking. "We called him: the Unstoppable Force."
Sarutobi vaguely smirked as he reached behind and readied his spear, twirling it before smashing the end into the ground.
"Captain?" Yato looked at him oddly.
"Captain Yato, keep watch over Jura for now. I'll engage the enemy alone."
"Y-you can't be serious?!" She seemed genuinely stupefied that he'd consider something so risky.
"He is serious Yato-dono, I know that kind of look anywhere." The young man smirked as he saw the vestige of the young teen that took on God Serena with no fear.
His body began to glow as magic energy flew away from him and waa siphoned into a spot next to himself. As the light died down, a figure stood in the once empty space, a moneky-like man in oriental clothing with a staff lazily leaned on the pole, picking his nose.
"Well well well, looks like ol' Daru decided to call on little ol' me. Been a while hasn't it?" The monkey spoke in a grouchy tone.
"What is that?" Jura questioned.
"The Captain's magic. He makes contracts with Natute Spirits that he can then call out whenever with just the cost of some Magic Power. It's basically an apex of summoning magic." Yato dryly swallowed at the rare sight of his magic.
"Son, I need you to take on a ground assault while I use the trees." Sarutobi dryly ordered.
"Huh?! Shouldn't that be the other way around dumbass? Or has all that non-sex finally fried your brain?" The monkey was stupefied over his master's choice.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." He leapt on the trunk of the tree and with his absurdly strong legs, easily spring boarded from tree-to-tree.
"Man oh man, he never changes." The Monkey King sighed before dashing forward and using his absurd instincts and agility to avoid the traps with ease.
"Tch. Looks like this one will be a bit trickier than I'd hoped." The hooded man clicked his tongue from his hiding spot. "Guess that just means I'll have to kick it up a notch." He smirked and loaded the crossbow on his arm.
Hood pointed the weapon steadily and fired, the bolt flying with precision at a level even Matt couldn't match yet. Wind, gravity, the branches, falling leaves, the moving target, all these things were accounted for in a mere instant by the man who grew up hunting for food most his life.
Sarutobi barely heard the whistle of the wind being pushed by the arrow and narrowly moved his head from gaining a new appendage.
'Seems like he can tell where I am based on how loud I'm moving. Can't help that, just means I need to speed up!' The next tree visibly cracked as Sarutobi leapt from its base, the bark going everywhere from the trunk.
"Damn! He's a quick one." Hood stood and leapt back in time to dodge the branch being cut in two from a spear.
Sarutobi ducked under a trio of bolts and rolled midair to the next tree.
'This freak has just been pulverizing trees to get around?!' Hood began hopping from branch-to-branch as Sarutobi gave chase.
The Captain spun his spear to catch another series of crossbow bolts fired by the Pirate. For every branch Hood used as a stepping stone, Sarutobi used an entire tree.
Eventually he would catch up to the Pirate, his spear raised high to deliver a crushing attack as they flee between two trees, however when the man before his eyes smirked, Sarutobi realized he'd fallen for a trap.
A pair of spike-covered swings were set loose upon the man, Hood slipping between them perfectly with his much smaller frame. Sarutobi took the traps head-on without any buffer.
Hood landed on a nearby tree with a smirk, "Well it looks like that's one down-" When he turned, the last thing he expected to see was Sarutobi physically ripping the sections of the traps that had barely stabbed him off. His steel-like muscles not even considering the attempt at damage as a minor wound.
"What the hell are you?!" Hood swore and fired a series of bolts at the man, most of which were stopped by a monkey man getting in the way. The one that did get past managed to graze the Captain's arm.
Sarutobi broke free and landed on the ground after removing the wooden spikes from his arms and legs.
"You doing alright?" The monkey kept his gaze locked on Hood.
"I'm fine." Sarutobi squeezed the arrow wound, causing a squirt of blood to shoot from it. He then took a piece of cloth and tied off his arm.
'Fine he says. This poison is strong enough to paralyze a goddamn wyvern with half a milligram.' Hood's eye twitched at the absurdity of his opponent. 'We're getting close to the entrance too, shit.' The man swore. 'Just who the hell is this guy? No pirate is anywhere near this strong!' Hood began going through a list of names in his head, trying to identify the man before him.
"Careful now Sarutobi, he knows the lay of the land better than we do, he could have even worse traps set up." Son advised the man who simply nodded.
'Sarutobi? …FUCK! SHIT! SON OF A BITCH!' The storm of swears tore apart the man's mind as he realized the man before was in fact not only not a pirate, but also one of the strongest the council could chuck at a problem!
'This is way above my pay grade!' Hood lifted his arm and fired off a flare, a universal signal to his men to fall back and regroup. The man then tried to make his escape.
"Not on my watch!" Son leapt up to strike the man down with his staff.
"May King!"
Suddenly the man disappeared from their sight.
"His scent is gone too." Son growled at that fact.
Sarutobi marched ahead to look for tracks, but didn't see any.
"How about sounds?" He asked his spirit.
"No good, besides the location, he's damn light on his feet. He's trained to evade the senses of animals." Son finally admitted Hood got away with a sigh.
The Captain walked over an area he could tell was previously a trap and triggered it, only for nothing to happen.
"Seems like he shut off his magic, whatever it was." He stood and placed his spear back behind him. "Son, go inform Jura and Yato about what happened. I'm pressing ahead to the main village."
"Yeah yeah, you go do whatever." The Monkey lazily walked off.
Sarutobi then pressed onwards, determined to figure out what was happening here.
"Christ!" Hood sat on the floor of the underground port. "Those guys were not pirates! They were very much so official!" He cursed at their bad luck. First they get the council on their asses after they rob some pirates and leave the captured offical on a boat about a mile from shore, then they get freed by that demon before leaving as fast as they could and now they gotta deal with one of the biggest fish in the pond hunting them down!
"They weren't anything spectacular though." Joseph leaned against a box lazily.
"Au contraire dear friend! I found a magnificent rival today! Truly our next clash shall be one for the ages!" Gilgamesh spoke proudly as Enkidu was shaking the new coat of paint applied to his feathers after that bath.
Cirino was still pretty concussed so she lazily rested on a cot atop the boat.
"So what now Boss?" Yuffie asked the man currently making a mess of his own hair in stress.
"It's best we get out. Sarutobi alone is a monster, but I'd hate to meet whoever the hell managed to give Gil a challenge." He sighed.
"Oh really? And here I was hoping we'd have a nice campfire kumbaya and share some stories."
The pirates looked up to see Matt, leaning against the upper railing of the entrance to the room.
"AH! WE MEET AGAIN MY RIVAL!" Gilgamesh excitedly stood, causing Enkidu to book it to the ship in order to dodge another bath.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME MATTHEW ATLAS WAS YOUR OPPONENT?!" Hood cried out at the kabuki oni.
"The King is here?!" Cirino immediately shot up and flew up to the boy with stars in her eyes. "It's such an honor to meet you Mr. King! Can I get your autograph?" She held out a commemoration poster of his victory over Serena.
"CIRINO!" Hood chided the girl.
"Yeah sure." He shrugged and signed the poster with a requipped silver sharpie. His autograph was simple and easy, a large, sharp M with a line near the top. He used it for everything now. From signing who had watch duty on that boat to his checks. What it made hard to forge was the sheer consistency of every use. Perfect matches for every last signing, a fact Matt was proud of.
"He's seriously signing it?!" The Captain cried out in shock.
"But or course my rival would be so courteous!"
"""Shut up Greg.""" Everyone in the room spoke in unison.
"Very well." He nodded, not even recognizing the massive mispronunciation of his name.
"Thank you!" She hugged the poster and flew back down to the boat without a care, a massive smile on her face.
"Tch. So, what are you gonna do now King of Games?" Hood and the rest of the group steeled themselves for a rough fight.
"Nothin'." He bluntly answered and shrugged.
The room face planted at his response.
"THE HELL DO YOU MEAN "Nothin'"?!" Hood yelled at the teen.
"I spoke with some of the locals hidden in these tunnels." That caused them to drop the fighting stances.
"Tch. And they'd immediately recognize you so no mistrust was ever present." Hood bitterly smirked.
"All I got out of them was how a band of bumbling idiotic pirate hunters came to the island and took care of the fake Rune Knights extorting them for whatever the hell they wanted. After that they agreed to hide you for helping them out around town."
"WE ARE NOTHING LIKE THAT!" Joseph cried out as Hood's hand met his own face.
"Okay okay, you're not bumbling." Matt clarified to the man.
"Damn straight… WAIT A MINUTE!"
A cheshire smirk rose on the teens face as the man fell for the bait, before it sank into a straight look.
"In all seriousness, I'd reccomend you people skedaddle before the others arrive. I'm a bit more reasonable than my associates so I won't stop you."
Hood looked at the teen before nodding.
By the time the others arrived, the pirates had left.
"Man, what a drag." Matt sighed as he sat on the stairs of the bridge, bandages covering parts of his body. They'd been at the island for a day now, Sarutobi giving an earful to the council that neglected not only this island, but also allowed fake rune knights to roam around without prioritizing their arrest.
He scowled as he very quickly realized things were not right on countless fronts. Why the hell did the council prioritize capturing a group of pirates that actively hunted other pirates over literal governmental imposters?! Not to mention why they were given the death sentence of Naraka over a regular prison.
Something wasn't fitting right to Matt, and despite everything, even he remembered how corrupt governments in his old world could be. The parallels he easily drew not making this job sit any better. But then again, that group could be an exception. For all he knew, everyone else aboard that ship was genuine scum.
Out of everything though, he did manage to squeeze something out of Hood in private.
"Why the hell did you guys leave that guild? Wouldn't it have been safer with Lucius?" He questioned the orange-haired man.
"Safe?" He scoffed, "Let me tell you something, that, that thing in human flesh is not safe. He is the farthest thing from safe. I got my group out of there because I could tell he was bad news." Hood shivered, "And the worst part, that bastard waved goodbye to us as we left on that ship we commended. He smiled wide and wished us safe travels like our exclusion didn't even matter to his plans!"
Matt sighed at that memory. Whoever the hell Lucius is, Matt did not like the feeling he got when even thinking about him.
"There you are." The teen turned to see Sarutobi standing behind him.
"What's up?"
"We're heading to Enca, Lucius has made his move." Matt nodded and followed the man to their ship.
"Bo~ss, are you sure it was fine just leaving them there?" Cirino complained to the man at the helm.
"I told you already Cir, they weren't gonna ditch and join us. Especially not Matthew!"
"BUT I WANNA SEE THE KING MORE!" She pouted and folded her arms.
"DID SOMEONE BRING UP MY RIVAL?!" Gilgamesh barged out from below deck, multiple frying pans in hand.
"No Gil, go back to cooking lunch." Hood sighed.
"Make sure you make me- BLRG!!!" Yuffie blew chunks over the railing while Joseph patted her back with a sigh.
'Besides, I already warned him, the choice is his to make...'
"One more thing before I leave." Hood got Matt's attention while he was on the bridge to get to the deck.
"What is it?" The teen raised a brow.
"If you and your guys struggled even slightly against us, turn back. Go traitor and leave. Your odds against the entire world are better than against that… that thing."
"Sorry, can't ditch the people I got back in Fiore like that." He walked off with a lazy wave.
Hood sighed as the tern walked back upstairs, "… You'll just end up dying though. You abandon them either way."
Well ain't that foreboding?
Welcome back everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! A lot happened so let's get right into it!
Matt vs. Gilgamesh was an interesting idea of a fight. I didn't go all out with it since it didn't quite feel right for either of them to give it 100% at this point. We will see Matt go all out later on for sure, but for his first fight this arc? Nah, save it for the good shit. Also it was just fun getting to write for Gilgamesh, easily one of my favorite characters in FF. As for whether of not it was the dimension hopping man we all know and love? I dunno, you decide.
Siegrain (and Cosmo too I guess), vs. Yuffie was an interesting fight. Seigrain lost. Plain and simple. He could've won if he didn't kneecap himself by trying to keep his other magics hidden, but his pride is definitely an issue. What the even bigger issue is, is that he is very green compared to everyone else. The least amount of combat experience relative to years goes to Matt and Ultear at about 5 to 8 years. Siegrain doesn't even have 6 months. So that'll definitely effect his fighting for this arc. Also Yuffie is quite literally Cosmo's worst possible matchup, so he really didn't get to show off his other form here.
Ken and Hina vs. Joseph was also an interesting one to write. From Ken's weird style of Take Over and Hina's surprising combat utility, it was fun testing that against a trickster like Joseph. As for why Ken only does partial transformations instead of full ones... I just really don't wanna have to go into detail about giant instect-like abominations multiple times a chapter. Also it's just more practical and considering most insects attack with stingers, fangs or mandibles, it would ruin the surprise element of his attacks.
I've had to look up some facts about insects for Ken's magic to add some variety, and I've learned things I could've gone the rest of my life without knowing. Did you know there's a species of ant with a bite so strong, they're used as makeshift staples? This bite is strong enough, they could theoretically skeletonize a human corpse with enough time... damn nature, you scary.
Next up was Yoru and Ultear vs Cirino, a relatively harmless fight, (if you discount all the fluid Ultear lost). I wanted to use this fight to also give some establishment to some world building like how Ethernano works and why 400 years ago there was less of it than there is now. This chapter was probably the second-to-last one with more world building in it for this arc with the exception of the next chapter.
What's that dear reader? Why is Ultear a hopeless lovestruck teenager that can't handle anything remotely sexual? A. She's literally never once experienced, or expressed this kind of thing in the manga, so yeah, she's gonna suck at it regardless. B. She's a teenager, cut her some slack. And C. BECAUSE IT'S FUN.
Sarutobi vs Hood was also another chance for me to introduce something for later purposes: Nature Spirits. I'll delve into them later, but if you know your mythology, you can probably guess some things about them, I mean it's literally staring you in the face. Aside from that, I also used it to show off how fucking scary Sarutobi is. An S-Class like Hood was running for dear life from the guy pulverizing trees with a simple jump. I don't think I need to explain how scary that idea is.
Next week will be a slower chapter more focused on character building and such, the last calm before we get knee-deep in it.
So until next time, I bid you all, adieu.
