Ch.7 Dark Justice Part One
About a half hour had passed since the boys met this older Ellen who was vastly different compared to the one Shido was familiar with. This one was sweet, caring and had a gorgeous smile compared to her younger arrogant self, and so Shido was compelled to ask.
"So you and me?"
Ellen looked at him and nods her head with a smile.
"Yes and we a have a beautiful little girl."
Ellen reaches into her pocket and pulls out a wallet filled with lots of money, pulls out a photo, and shows it Shido. The photo showed Ellen with a little girl in front of her and Shido standing next to Ellen with his arm around her; in the photo he was wearing an apron over his normal attire and Ellen was wearing a red suit. Ellen explains that she's the president of a gaming company and has turned it into one of the largest and most successful companies in Japan and about what Isaac did to cause her defection from DEM. Shido was moved by her story and asked.
"So all of that over an experiment?"
Ellen cringed a little with the memories of her daughter's birth.
"Yeah and I regret that she was born for that purpose. That's why I gave her to you since you were a much better caregiver than I could ever be"
Shido shakes his head.
"No, I think the way are you are now, that you're a good mom"
Ellen blushes a little.
"That means a lot, and to tell you the truth there are times when I believe that I'm not good enough for you and that you could do a lot better than me"
Shido shakes his head again.
"No way, I bet the me of your time loves you. I mean I couldn't blame him, you're nice, caring, and strong."
Ellen blushes more and hugs Shido.
"Just like my husband, so considerate, one of the many things I love about him."
Aki feels a little awkward listening to the two making nice with each other and even forgot about his defeat earlier. But then Shido asked Ellen if she met a woman in bandages and just like with Kurumi she did and obtained a bracelet to help with the time jumps. However, she also says that the woman in bandages can no longer help them because of the person who's behind everything. This only adds to the questions Shido has since whoever was doing this was intelligent and if Saori was with him then he has to be very powerful.
Back in the base timeline at least a month has passed since Shido and the others went missing and the girls were upset. Miku was locked up in her mansion with the Yamai twins and Yoshino trying to figure out where Shido was. Miku hadn't done a concert in over two weeks since she was too worried about her darling to sing for anyone and the other three were searching for clues around town for anything that could help. Ratatoskr was managing without Kotori, but people were getting tired of Kannazuki's perverse attitude and the fact he was annoying with his search for their commander.
At DEM headquarters, Shinra was becoming impatient with Ellen's progress during her mission and was making his feelings known to Isaac during another private meeting.
"Isaac where is that so-called world's strongest wizard you like to flaunt?"
Isaac raises his shoulders in an "I don't know" position.
"She's probably using her time to make a strategy and you know we have no idea where she ended up. Besides didn't your two subordinates fail?"
Isaac didn't know about Saori as Shinra never told him about her for some reason.
"Yes but at least they were quick about reporting to me Isaac"
"And how's yelling at me going to make anything better?"
Shinra stands up and gives Isaac some parting words.
"Just so you know Isaac I am a very patient man, but I do not tolerate failure from my peers."
Isaac puts on a look of relief.
""Sigh," I thought he was going to yell at me or something"
Shinra went back to his supposedly monitored room and sat on a bed. Isaac called the person in charge of the monitor and they just said that he was lying down. Isaac was becoming more suspicious of Shinra and had a theory of what's under the mask. The truth of the matter is that Shinra's personal guard Kokoro is using some kind of power to cloak everything that Isaac doesn't need to know about, like the presence of his two subordinates, the two who started it all for Shido and his friends. Shinra was chatting with them.
"Geri, Freki I have a mission for you two"
The two bowed to Shinra and both proclaim.
"The two wolves Geri and Freki only live to obey you master"
Shinra liked the respect he received from the two and treated them kindly aside from pretending to hit them.
"Hmm glad to see you two are just as loyal as ever"
The two talked in sync with each other.
"Of course Shinra we do not blame you for our failures and we only beg for forgiveness"
"No need for that. Anyway, I don't trust Ellen to succeed and I want you two to follow Shido and his friends."
"Yes sir"
"You will only attack when giving the command from either Saori or Kokoro in the chance I send her. Also Freki, I have a gift for you."
Freki was the one who attacked the Fraxinus in Akane's time and the one who sent Shido through time originally.
"Thank you master Shinra."
Before Shinra can give his gift to Freki, Kokoro intervenes with sadness in her voice.
"My love, why don't you just send me?"
"Kokoro you have problems holding back and we both know that."
"Please, I only want a fair chance."
Shinra takes a moment to think and nods.
"Fine but you're going to wait until they move again; I don't want you attacking them in that world and I have to maintain appearances since Isaac may be catching on to our game."
Shinra sits up and walks towards the door and thinks.
"I hope Saori delivered my message already; I can't wait much longer. But first I need to find Tohka and the others"
Back in the other timeline, Shido meet up with Akane and Kurumi and had to introduce Ellen to them. After explaining the situation, Akane tells Shido about Mana which surprised him.
"I didn't know Mana was put into this situation too. But wait how do you know that it's not the Mana from this world?"
Akane gives him a "really" look.
"Because I'm not stupid, the fact she looked way too young, and the media thinks she's a DEM terrorist not realizing that the Mana you know isn't with DEM anymore from what you told me."
Shido starts scratching the back of his head.
"Oh yeah."
Ellen adds into the conversation.
"If so then what do we do about it?"
Shido thinks for a moment then remembers something from earlier.
"Okay kids the colonel said he'd like to speak with the four of you tomorrow afternoon"
The words of the wizard that helped escort them to the city and Shido also remembered a citizen saying.
"Colonel Itsuka is such a courageous man I'm glad he's protecting us"
If the colonel is in fact either his son or himself, Shido could ask the colonel about going easier on Mana. It was worth a try so he tells this idea to the others and they agreed, so they go back to the hotel since it was late and they needed to get to sleep.
On the roof of the DEM building where the younger Ellen was, she had woken up and struggled to stand up due to the hole in her stomach. She was heavily upset about losing to a traitor and angrier about her words.
"No, I didn't lose to her..I'm the world's strongest wizard damn it!"
Ellen stumbles her way to the staircase and manages to get down to the next floor. As she tries to get closer to the next staircase, Ellen is startled by laughter and then a voice says.
"World's strongest wizard, what a joke"
Ellen turns her head to see a person coming from the shadows; it was Saori, only Ellen didn't know who she was. Saori was mocking Ellen with a smile.
"You lost to a superior opponent and refuse to accept it; you look like hell and yet still want to fight. In all seriousness you have no chance in hell of winning against her; it would be funny it wasn't so pathetic….then again."
Saori begins to laugh, and Ellen, still frustrated, replies to Saori's insults.
"Do you have any idea who I am?"
Ellen lifts up her hand to put up a territory but Saori warps in front of her and sticks her hand in Ellen's opened wound causing her intense pain and sarcastically quips.
"No, enlighten me"
Ellen cringes as Saori continues her sadistic torture.
"I'm the world's strongest…"
Saori shakes her head.
"No you're not, the world's strongest wizard is colonel Itsuka, at least in this world. From what I heard, he could take you apart like a clock and not flinch. Then again I haven't met him so I have no real opinion."
"Then…What was the…Point of this?"
"Nothing I just love seeing that expression and when your future self gave you a working-class ass kicking, it was priceless; I've never laughed so hard in my life."
"Shut…the hell up!"
"I don't think you're in any position to be talking like that to me."
Saori smiles sadistically as she uses her fingers to mess around with Ellen's innards causing her scream more until she actually passes out from the pain again. Saori then puts on an angry look and slaps Ellen in the face to try to wake her up.
"Don't fall asleep when I'm talking to you!"
Naturally Ellen doesn't snap out of it and Saori just let's her fall to the ground again, and she warps through the shadows to leave and thinks.
"Did mom ever get this bored when messing with humans? Can't see why Isaac has so much trust in this weakling…oh well, more pain for them means more fun for me I guess. But enough fun I've got to make sure that Mana survives."
The next morning Shido and the others get ready to meet the colonel and Ellen went off on her own to learn a little more about this timeline since she isn't supposed to meet the colonel. Close to noon a wizard appears before the four and escorts them to the police station. Shido can't help but feel a little weird about this since he had a bad feeling in the bottom of stomach. The entire way to the station no one talked because they were afraid the wizard might overhear them and become suspicious of them. After a few minutes close to noon, they arrive at the station and are told to just walk forward to get to the colonel's office. They do and throughout the halls of the station, instead of seeing blue or black uniforms, the station was crawling with military style soldiers answering calls, filing reports, and even eating donuts with coffee. Upon seeing the door at the far end it was an office that originally belonged to the chief of police and on the exact minute of noon someone opens the door to the office, a young man with medium disheveled white hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. He was taller than Shido, and wore an outfit with a black tunic with a standing collar buttoning down from top-to-bottom; the tunic had gold trim and white cuffs, he had straight black pants that were tucked into knee-high black boots, with a white belt that had the Ratatoskr symbol as a buckle. He was also wearing a large medal below his left shoulder that looked like a shield. He smiled at the group as he introduced himself in a polite manner.
"Hello I am Hiro Itsuka colonel of the AST, and you must be the youngsters that my subordinates caught in the forbidden zone."
Shido was a little relieved that his son was polite in this world and was certain that his mother is Origami judging by his hair color alone. Everyone introduced themselves using fake names to hide their identities from Hiro, who invited them into his office.
"Glad to meet you all, but I'm afraid that you four need a lecture for trespassing but since you're youngsters I'll go easy on the lot of you."
Akane put on a disgruntled look as she asked.
"Um, how old are you colonel?"
"I'm nineteen, why do you ask?"
Everyone was a little surprised, except Kurumi, and Akane responds.
"You're barely older than us and you're already talking like an old man"
"Hehehehe I get that a lot."
When they enter the office, Shido immediately began looking around and was rather impressed when he saw some trophies on display. He also saw some photos of Hiro with his parents and it was Origami and Shido thought to himself.
"So this is what could happen if I end up with her…maybe it's for the best"
Elsewhere in the prison, Mana was locked in a cell somewhere in the prison, covered in injuries with her realizer and powers were sealed.
"I still can't believe what happened"
(Flashback)
Mana had arrived in this time at least two days before Shido and his party arrived. She woke up on the ground, equipped with her realizer, confused and wondering where she was. She thought that maybe she was teleported to a different area like a training ground and called out for people.
"Hello is anyone here?"
After realizing that she was equipped with her realizer, Mana decided to fly to the city which was in sight. However on the way to the city, Mana was attacked by a couple of AST wizards, who shot at her and was startled by this.
"Hey, why are you attacking me!?"
The wizards continue their assault, and Mana begrudgingly fights back and defeats the wizards with ease. She didn't like fighting them and apologized, but then someone else showed and challenged her.
"You may have defeated my comrade, but you will not defeat me, DEM wizard!"
Mana turned to see a most unusual wizard, the voice was male, and his realizer made him resemble a cybernetic knight than a human. His realizer covered his entire body in a smooth silver coat of metal with blue neon lines surging around his body resembling markings, he had a face plate and helmet which resembled a kendo mask but his face couldn't be seen, and the part of his chest where his heart was had a glowing blue orb that had the Ratotoskr symbol on the center, and the strange thing was it pulsed like a real heart. His weapon was a pair of dual blades that he held in a backhanded fashion. Mana tried to reason with him.
"I'm not with DEM so please stop this"
"I don't believe you, you're using a DEM made realizer so don't try that lie with me"
The wizard charges energy into his dual blades and launches two energy waves from them.
Mana puts up a territory to block, but the two waves completely obliterate her territory, completely surprising her.
"No way!"
The unknown wizard zips towards her and they begin clashing swords, but Mana is at a disadvantage due to her opponents speed. His movements were quick and precise, Mana could barely block him and attempts use her magic and territories, none of which works on this person. After nearing exhaustion from repeated failures, Mana starts panting and her opponent compliments her.
"For a DEM wizard, you're very strong, and if I wasn't an anti-wizard soldier you may have had a chance. To honor your skill, I'll finish this with my most powerful attack."
"Anti-wizard soldier?"
"Now…"
Mana puts up her guard as the wizards blue orb begins to glow brightly.
"Burn this life to punish my enemy!"
The wizard raises his arm to the sky and unleashes a tower of energy and Mana is caught in it and gets lifted into the sky and when it fades she falls upside down and sees the wizard clutching his chest and as he begins to reveal his chest again he shouts the name of this attack.
"BLAST HEART!"
He reveals the orb again and an explosion of energy rips through the air causing Mana great pain as multiple streaks from the blast hit her causing her to fall to the ground unconscious. When she woke up later, she was in a dark room and tied to a chair with a woman, who had cold eyes, interrogating her about a group of DEM wizards that are hiding somewhere, and Mana couldn't equip her realizer. They were convinced that Mana is one of their members and possibly their leader but Mana keeps telling them she knows nothing, and after a few hours of interrogation she is thrown in a cell. She was then told that she would be executed after the ceremony, which didn't understand, so she now waits somewhat afraid of being killed without knowing where her brother was.
Back in the colonel's office, Hiro was just finishing his lecture to the group.
"And that's why youngsters shouldn't go into the forbidden zone. So do you four have any questions before I send you off?"
Aki raises his hand.
"Yeah I've got one, why is there a spirit festival?"
"Ah good question, and the answer is its a day to honor the spirits who were some of the greatest heroes in the war."
Shido wasn't happy to hear that the spirits fought in the war. Then Kurumi raises her hand.
"And is that why Miss Tokisaki is nearly blind?"
Akane raises her hand as well.
"Is that also the reason Yoshino has a limp?"
Hiro puts on a confused look and scratches the back of his head.
"I don't know how they came into this conversation, but I'd rather leave them out."
Apparently the AST never told anyone what the spirit's names were, probably to protect their privacy. Shido began to have terrifying images of Yoshino without her leg and wonders about the other spirits in this time. Then Hiro continues to talk about the spirits.
"Yes, the spirits used to be viewed as monsters by the AST as you know, but then Ratatoskr convinced them that the spirits were angels sent from heaven to help in our time of need. I do not take credit for the spirit's kindness to the people the city, and we hold a spirit festival once a year, but since this was the first year we had a slow start."
Out of concern, Shido asks.
"So did any of the spirits get hurt?"
Shido's heart was beating faster as Hiro explained with his eyes closed.
"Well we did lose Princess, and one-half of Yamai."
Shido and Aki's hearts sank as Hiro just admitted that the Tohka and one of the Yamai twins are dead. Hiro also added.
"If you would like to see the graves to pay respects I can give you the address."
Shido nods his head and Aki looks mortified. Akane had her fist clenched and Kurumi just stands and looks around the room and sees a photo of Hiro and a group of people with a label that read "Special Forces unit 0" and she counts thirty people. While Hiro is writing down an address, Kurumi uses the opportunity to use Yud on the photo; luckily Hiro was used to hearing gunshots apparently. Kurumi had a mischievous look as she thought to herself.
"I see, guess the colonel isn't as saintly as he looks."
Once Hiro gives the address, he sends the group off and Shido was so horrified by the news of this world's Tohka's death that he forgot to ask Hiro about Mana. Once they got the address of the grave, the group leaves the office and by the time they get out of the station and Shido was pissed at himself for forgetting about Mana, but decided that she wasn't really in any danger yet. He considered asking Aki to accompany him but he noticed that Aki was shivering, apparently the thought of Tohka being dead made him panic. Ellen wasn't around, Akane went off on her own for a little bit saying she was curious about something, and so Shido was left with asking Kurumi. He gently asked her.
"Kurumi would you please go with me; I don't want to go alone."
Kurumi had her usual smile as she answered.
"A grave isn't exactly an ideal spot for a date Shido."
"Kurumi please."
Kurumi nods her head since she didn't have anything else to do. As they walk through the city, Shido decides to talk to Kurumi about the last time they were in.
"So back in the last world, how did you know about Saori?"
Kurumi casually answers.
"The woman in bandages said her name, so I told the others when I met them."
Suddenly the mystery revolving around this woman in bandages is becoming more pressing. But not wanting to change the subject, Shido continued to talk about last timeline.
"Anyway, that means you didn't meet your counterpart in the world right?"
"No"
"Well in case you didn't notice, Saori is our daughter in that time."
Kurumi puts on a mischievous smile with a blush.
"What are you implying Shido. Are you saying you want to make a baby with me?"
Shido 's turns bright red and he becomes flustered.
"Well to be honest I…Wait that's not the point!"
Shido takes a few deep breaths and becomes serious again.
"What I'm trying to say is, I want to save her and I need your help to do it."
"Why do you care so much? She's probably not even going to be born in our time."
"Because she's still our child in manner of speaking, so she might listen to us."
"Shido if she's anything like me then you're wasting your time."
Shido shakes his head with a serious look.
"Just the fact she even exists tells me that's not true Kurumi. I will save her and I'll save you too."
Kurumi doesn't respond, she just keeps walking with Shido until they arrive at the address. It was a cemetery dedicated to the fallen heroes. Shido began passing by the tombstones until two catch his eye because they had statues on them, one of Tohka, and another of Yuzuru. It was then Shido began to feel a tight feeling in his chest by just seeing these statues knowing that they were graves. He saw someone placing a bouquet of flowers in front of Tohka's statue; from behind it looked like origami but, of course, older. Her hair was longer and she was wearing a simple pink dress, and she also had a baby carrier with her, and inside was a sleeping baby with blue hair covered with a white blanket. Much to Shido's surprise, Origami was actually praying for Tohka and he could barely hear a few words that sounded like words of comfort. Shido got a curious and was tempted to talk with her, but decided not to. He was about to leave her, but she turned around and looked at him with a shocked look on her face.
Back in the city, Ellen was doing research on the laws of this world in an internet café and discovered something unsettling. Normally DEM wizards are executed on the spot, but Mana was being kept alive despite being accused of one. This information made Ellen come to the conclusion that she was being pumped for information and will be executed soon, so she immediately left to find Shido to tell him what she learned.