Chapter 9: Resolve

The near silence of the station was surreal for Roland and Amaterasu considering what they had experienced just mere seconds ago. All the commotion on the surface started to die down as the guards were denied access and ultimately gave up the pursuit. Only soft panting from Roland and Amaterasu was heard, along with the gentle, cool wind blowing through the platform and tunnels. The calm was broken by a raspy huff from Roland. He looked down below at himself and noticed blood dripping from various wounds on his legs caused by fragments from nearby projectiles that landed close to him, the pain was started creep in as the adrenaline started mellowing away.

"I need to sit down for a minute…" Roland carelessly dropped the machine gun that created mighty thud as it hit the floor and proceeded to sit one of the benches. He examined his wounds again, this time he noticed that his pants were torn to shreds as well. Roland turned his head towards Amaterasu, who was gazing at him the whole time.

"Mind helping me out please?"

Amaterasu looked down at his wounds and agreed that they needed to be dealt with. She flicked her tail towards Roland and gently rubbed the tip of it against his wounded legs. With a small splash of ink, all the injuries vanished; and it also restored Roland's pants as if they were new again.

"Thank you, girl." He smiled warmly while he stroked her head and cheeks. The next thought that came to Roland's mind was poor Shigeru. He still was appalled about the man's fate. The same kind feelings were plaguing Amaterasu, but alas it was something that they needed to get over at some point and move on. Roland stood up from the bench and looked at the platform signs to determine which tunnel to take to get back to the distillery.

"Come on Amaterasu. We must go back home, and quickly." Roland walked over to the edge of the platform and hopped down onto the tracks; it would be a rather lengthy stroll for them as their destination were a few kilometers away.

"Hey um…mind if I hitch a ride on you again? It's gonna be quite a walk to home…"

Amaterasu jumped down next to Roland and presented her back for him, offering a seat. Roland carefully saddled onto her and patted her side as a sign of gratitude from his end. They began their trek with a slow acceleration that eventually reached a magnificent speed. There were no concern of demon encounters this time around as the tunnel was lit well enough to deter foes fueled by darkness.

After running some miles through the bright tunnel, they finally reached the station where they have initially departed from. The first thing Roland noticed was the disappearance of the slain gang members. It appeared to be so that their remains were replaced by an assemblage of flowers at the spot of their demise. It was the same scenario at the surface of the station, anything that had resembled death or destruction of physical matter has been substituted with nature's beauty. Or more over, Amaterasu's beauty of recreating life in another.

"I can't believe you actually managed to do all this pooch, and all in swipe of your tail…" Roland spoke in awe as they both wondered through this surreal hybrid of forest and building landscape. "I at least hope the emperor won't take notice of this, it could be a warning sign of what was coming towards him, and he'll retaliate for sure."

The duo finally reached the distillery once again. This time, some of Roland's comrades were outside, admiring the new scenery in astonishment.

"Roland! You're back! Look at all of this! Some kinda magic has happened and it's like whole city turned into heaven!" One of the rebel soldiers exclaimed with glee as if he were a small child at a fair.

"Yes…it's beautiful." Roland replied with a much dimmer attitude, considering the pain he felt from the lose that he endured while restoring the land.

"Oh by the way, the Chief wishes to see you immediately."

"You got it boss."

Roland and Amaterasu headed back inside and straight to the Chief's office. There, the Chief was still at his desk as if he had never moved the last time Roland interaction with him. The only difference was that he had his hands clasped together with his chin on top of them. He was giving Roland an ominous look as well, which Roland took note of.

"Roland, Amaterasu. I am all glad you have successfully completed this task." The Chief finally said in a more neutral gesture.

"Thank you, sir. It wasn't so easy at all." Roland and Amaterasu sat down in front of him.

"Oh, I can tell alright, considering the whole MESS you caused there. Which stirred up the hornet's nest and now it's only a matter of time before the Guard, and perhaps the Army locate and slaughter us!" The Chief really was not in a bright mood, regardless of what Roland and Amaterasu has done, but Roland did expect this kind of reaction from him.

"Sir, we did try to meet the objectives as covertly as we could. But we were unexpectedly caught of guard." Roland tried to give some sort of rational explanation to at least satisfy the Chief by a fraction.

"Well, you didn't try hard enough! I understand that with your sorcery you are unstoppable, but you are putting everybody else on your side at risk as a result from your unnecessary rampage."

"They executed Shigeru…" Roland finally delivered the statement which changed the dynamics of the argument entirely.

"What…? What do you mean executed? How?" The Chief became confused and somewhat in denial from Roland's claim.

"When we were speaking to him, we were ambushed by a squad of guards. We tried to resolve the situation peacefully, but instead these fuckers shot him in cold blood. Just like that…" Roland was trying to keep his cool and not to break down in front of the Chief. At least he had the Goddess on his side, as she laid her muzzle onto his lap, in which Roland stroked her head in return.

"Son of a bitch…I'm sincerely sorry for your loss, but you shouldn't had led your fucking guard down damn it!"

"I know, it's my fault." The Chief was correct in this case. Roland kept the thought lingering about how he should've slaughtered the guards first without any hesitation. He may would have saved him. The Chief heavily sighed and attempted to keep clear about Shigeru's tragedy.

"What did he tell you when you spoke to him?"

"He told us that me and Amaterasu must travel throughout Nippon and restore the rest of the guardian saplings. That should cleanse the land demons and aid is in killing the emperor."

The Chief's eyes widened in surprise when he heard this plot.

"That's…quite a feat that you have on your hands. Are you sure you will be able to accomplish this?"

"Like you said, with my sorcery I am unstoppable. And of course, I have God on my side, literally." Roland looked at Amaterasu, smiling warmly.

"Heh, I cannot deny that. But keep in mind that you'll up against the Imperial Guard, the entire military, and those supposed demons that you have mentioned. We cannot help you a lot outside the city, but we do have cells at other towns who should gladly assist you along the way." The Chief explained to Roland.

"That's good to know at least. But I also need transportation. A plane preferably. We can't cover the entire globe on foot after all."

"Hmm. There are a couple of complications regarding that. First, getting one would not be that easy. As most of them are currently based at the Kamiki Aerospace Center. Predictably, that place will be heavily guarded, and is rather far from here as it is. Now second, even if you do acquire an aircraft or spacecraft, you are certainly guaranteed to be intercepted by every air or space defense network out there."

"I understand. But with all do respect, I quite frankly do not care. Because if we don't do something now, then we won't solve anything or improve our way of life. Also, I bet we can deal with whatever comes at us, right pooch?"

Amaterasu happily barked, giving off a better vibe for everyone in the room. Although she wasn't quite sure as to what the threats that Roland and the Chief mentioned exactly were.

"Well, I ain't stopping you two, we'll have your back as much as we could."

"Thanks Chief, I appreciate everything you've done for us."

There was a brief pause of conversation after Roland finished his sentence.

"Alright then, you two better go get some rest now. We will do more planning tomorrow morning." The Chief finally broke the silence.

"Yeah, we'll do, have a good night, Chief."

They parted ways and Roland walked back to his room, along with Amaterasu. He got rid of his gear as well as most of his heavy clothing and flopped onto the bed.

"Why does everything have to be so damn complicated…" Roland whined with a heavy sigh.

Amaterasu hopped on and laid down next to him, snuggling to her head to his cheek and was just about ready to head into slumber. Roland could not help himself but to giver her a quick kiss on her head, which she did not mind at all. In fact, she found it to be soothing.

"Do you also think that my dad is behind all of this? Did he really do something that completely turned this world into hell? Surely not on purpose, and I certainly hope the old man was wrong."

Roland's vocal thoughts were left unanswered by the Goddess, as she didn't know what to think of these allegations either.

"Whatever. Goodnight, girl." Both shut their eyes and quickly kipped away peacefully.