"Snake blood! Snake blood!" The rallying cry echoed throughout the
tainted hallways of the underground castle. "Snake blood! Snake blood!"
The rallying cry heralded the arrival of queen Naga's personal advisor.
"Snake blood! Snake blood!" The cry died down as the queen's personal
advisor entered and stood in the middle of the throne room.
Because of his royal status, the advisor and general could speak freely to the queen in front of the entire populace and he could also arrange meetings with her. Oleiriset, the Queen's personal advisor and general, surveyed the spectators of the public meeting. Every family in the group at some point integrated the blood and strengths of their enemies, but despite being descended from the women in the harems, they had the obvious traits of the snake blood - thick occasionally scaly skin, small bulging eyes and hair colors ranging from green, black, yellow and various shades that never grew properly. Oleiriset's white and yellow hair blended perfectly together. A few of the snake demons were able to pose as humans in the mortal world. Oleiriset was one of those few.
The advisor quickly turned his attention to the throne as queen Naga silenced the crowd. Naga announced to the group, "Now that advisor Oleiriset has finished his years of study, we can properly discuss the future course of our blood." The snake demons always referred to themselves as blood instead of people. Then, she said directly to him, "Advisor Oleiriset, our people are restless. They desire to return to the era of prosperity and peace that they enjoyed before losing the Yamanouchi and relocating to the nether world."
"Yes, I understand." The initial capture of the last remaining descendent of Yamanouchi Nazaka boosted the confidence and esteem of the snake demons. Their society flourished with the sadistic pleasure that is involved with vengeance. After Sekhmet escaped, the snake demons, lacking the cure for their collective mental illness, followed him into the nether world where they hid and tried to ally themselves with Talpa and Badamon in order to further influence Sekhmet's life. Talpa feared that their influence would cause his warlord to question his intentions so he denied them an alliance.
Oleiriset breathed deeply to keep his composure. "In order to achieve a total victory, all nine armors must be destroyed. Our biggest threat at this moment will be Kayura." He instantly raised his hands towards the audience to prevent any questions. He already knew the answers. "The five elemental Ronin Warriors will soon be preoccupied. Their defeat is secure. That only leaves the former warlords for us to fight. In case the general populous is ignorant of a certain fact, Anubis who temporarily replaced the Ancient One, is dead so there is one less to worry us. Kale is of no special blood and Dais should never be considered a threat despite that his grandfather, Kuroda Jiguro, was born from the Clan of the Ancient! Jiguro was cursed by a nether spirit, which canceled out the powers of the Clan. Jiguro then mingled his bloodline with that of a weaker bloodline, resulting in a weaker Kuroda generation. Their only surviving son further mingled the Clan ancestry with another weak bloodline, from which Dais was born. Kayura is the last pure descendent of the Clan. Therefore she is the strongest and the most dangerous."
Naga dismissed his words and stated bluntly with all the symptoms of the mental illness that is revenge, "Killing Kayura is of no major importance to me. Nazaka brutally murdered my father so I must torture Nazaka in effigy. Now that Sekhmet has his grandfather's armor, he will use the armor against us. I want Sekhmet returned to his rightful place. Am I correct in believing that you have a plan? Remember that brute force is wasteful and dangerous."
"Yes, you are correct," Oleiriset replied worriedly; the queen said before the meeting that she wanted to discuss the well-being of the snake demons, but she uncharacteristically jumped past all of the problems and all of the various solutions and decided to follow only one course. However, he could not ask her until later
His strategy was, "There is a certain rule that I learned in my studies: the greater the kindness, the greater the deception. Talpa's kindness was giving Sekhmet a comfortable position of power and Nazaka's armor. Talpa's deception was using Sekhmet solely for the armor and then to kill him. Well, Sekhmet still lacks certain things that are almost a necessity for every individual. I will go to him, give him the necessity (the kindness) and then lead him here (the deception). It is the exact same method that Talpa used, but his plan was foiled by the Ancient One so I wish that Kayura be killed before we retrieve the descendent of Nazaka."
The tiger walked stealthily across the long ramp on the top of the newly constructed skyscraper. The city lights glittered brightly, illuminating the area for miles. The people of the city, like their ancestors for thousands of years, retired to their beds for the night while the nocturnal workers busied themselves sleepily in an attempt to stay awake. As the tiger examined the land, a great sadness flowed through him. All of his friends were dead: his beloved, his parents, his friends, his comrades, his student. everyone. Soon more people dear to him might die.
The entire city was built over the remains of lord Mitoma Hitomaro's castle where eight Ronin Warriors fought desperately against Hariel and the White Inferno. 500 years ago, lord Mitoma Hitomaro, a man with a peculiar philosophy for life, bought the White Inferno from Chinese merchants and forgot about it when the Ancient One gave him the armor Strata. Hitomaro was guilt-ridden forever when he learned that he was responsible for bringing the threat (also the near destruction of the world) to Japan and was responsible for the death of a little girl who was killed because of the White Inferno. Hitomaro's promise to live saintly life was shattered when his grandson desired to steal Strata and to become a warlord for Talpa. Hitomaro compromised his vow. He murdered his grandson and then killed himself. Without an heir, the other members of the Mitoma clan warred upon each other for succession. The castle was eventually destroyed and the area fell under the control of a more powerful lord.
The tiger breathed deeply once. There were tears in his eyes that threatened to come out.
Setting aside his grief, the tiger stepped off the ramp and turned around to look at it. The steep angle up the ramp was perfect for his intentions. Preparing himself, the tiger placed his foot on the steel ramp and focused on shoving a psychological wedge in his mind. Then, he zoomed up the ramp, shoving the wedge deeper as he ran faster. When he neared the end, the wedge split his mind. Two separate voices could be heard arguing about old spites and fighting for privacy. Then, the tiger flew across the end of the ramp and onto the roof of the adjacent building where the two voices regained their privacy.
White Blaze and Black Blaze faced each other, breathless. The two tigers sat down and waited until the strain of existing as one and then separating themselves began to disappear in memory.
"You know what the new threat is," stated Black Blaze somberly.
White Blaze nodded. "The Inferno armor."
Another moment of silence passed. The two tigers gained sympathy and understanding for the other while they existed as one. In that sense, White Blaze was more like a friend than anyone else was to the other tiger. The other tiger unfortunately never knew how to treat a friend. "Well, the battle will begin in a few days, a week at the most." He turned to leave.
"Wait! Black Blaze, I have a question!"
The two counterparts faced each other again. "What is the question?"
"What will happen to Ryo and his friends? Will they live? If Ryo dies, I-"
"Calm yourself, White Blaze," the other tiger said. After the death of the Ancient One, Ryo became White Blaze's sole reason for existence. "You know the prophecy."
Would Ryo fall victim to the evil armor that killed so many innocent people who were dear to White Blaze and his friends? If Ryo fell victim, he would become the murderer and only his death could save the world. It was the only tactic that White Blaze knew worked. During the past two years, White Blaze had many opportunities to kill Ryo in his sleep, to give him a quick easy death which would be merciful compared to the Inferno's enslavement.
"I am the Guardian of Virtue!" he declared. "My duty is to protect Ryo!"
Black Blaze frowned, "Only until Ryo is able to protect himself and Ryo has been fully capable of defending himself for the past two years. The White Inferno almost killed you. Your skills are useless in protecting him against either Inferno."
After the two tigers left without another word, White Blaze immediately jumped on Ryo's bed and began to position himself comfortably near the end. The teenager awoke groggily, rolled onto his side, and tucked his legs nearer to his body to allow White Blaze plenty of room to rest. The teenager fell back asleep quicker than he awoke. Ryo hiked extensively earlier that day and was exhausted. White Blaze smelled various forest scents on him.
Gazing at Ryo's delicate neck, White Blaze again toyed with the idea of granting him a swift merciful death. 500 years ago, he vowed to kill anyone who wore the Inferno no matter what. He still had yet to complete his vow with Ryo who bore the Inferno. White Blaze tensed his muscles to pounce. A swift merciful death would be kinder than the drawn-out torture that Ryo would endure under the Inferno's control. White Blaze focused his eyes on the thin, pale neck of sleeping Ryo. He would never allow Ryo to become a slave of the Inferno! White Blaze's muscles coiled up. Then, the tiger sprang off the bed and ran outside where he cried himself to sleep. Ryo awoke him in the morning, ignorant of White Blaze's troubles and opinions.
"Where's Kayura?" Kale inquired of the other two former warlords as he sat down at the table with a plate of food in his hands.
"Still meditating," Dais replied rather angrily. He was always deeply irritated after waking up and he was only awake for a few minutes.
After the defeat of Talpa, there was a new threat every single month, which left little time for socializing. Because of their busy schedule, mealtimes became the perfect time for relaxation and for conversations that consisted primarily of their jobs and duties in keeping the nether world in harmony - regulating and restricting the amount of nether spirits and soldiers that a youja could have, gradually lowering the amount in order to balance all of the spiritual worlds and the mortal world, tactics against the current threat, and the affairs of other major youja. During that rare period with Dais too upset for a conversation and Sekhmet never prone to decent conversations, Kale began to think about his life.
Why did he agree to join Talpa? Kale, born into a clan of ninjas, was disgusted at his lord. His lord was an incompetent fool who wished to waste the entire regime of ninjas and samurais. Those of the highest strength had to accomplish the menial tasks while those of the lowest strength had to accomplish the excruciating tasks. His lord never allowed the wisest to offer advice or to strategize. His lord always formulated the most ridiculous plans. Everyone, the Date clan, the Hideyoshi family, the Tokugawa clan, and the Sanada clan trampled over him. Even the fragile Mitoma clan arranged victories over his lord! The Ronin Warrior legend was a mockery when Kale grew up and no one thought highly of them. In fact, when Kale officially became a ninja, the Ronin Warrior legend was forgotten. After several discussions with Talpa, Kale concluded that the emperor was sensible, sane, and worthy of his skills so Kale took his armor and agreed to serve Talpa.
"How did we get our armors?" Kale asked Dais and Sekhmet suddenly.
"I always had my armor." Dais said curiously, more awake now and less angry. After two years of comradeship, they felt somewhat comfortable talking about their pasts and their families. "Well, my armor actually belonged to my family. I think. I think my father got the armor when his father died. I know the armor was kept in storage until I took it. I don't know what my grandfather did with the armor. I only remember my grandfather's funeral."
Kale leaned back in his chair. "I saw my grandfather a few times, but those memories are vague. He died when I was seven, but I did not attend the funeral. The armor was like something that no one wanted to be in the Sasaki clan." He knew his grandfather was disgraced somehow, which disgraced his children and grandchildren.
"I didn't know you were born into the Sasaki ninja clan," Dais said. "Where I lived, there were always rumors and stories about how Sasaki Idoju hated the Sanada clan, especially this one ninja who wasn't really a Sanada or something."
"Sasaki Idoju is my grandfather!" Kale exclaimed, jumping out of his chair.
Dais tensed at Kale's unexpected outburst. When his comrade calmed down, he said, "My grandfather is Kuroda Jiguro."
Without warning, Sekhmet sprang out of his chair and charged through the door. His loud footsteps were heard for several moments before disappearing with the distance. Dais and Kale stared after him in shock. That was the most response that Sekhmet displayed concerning anything. The two former warlords wondered what made him run.
Comforting his head in his right hand, Kale noted for the sake of noting, "The beginning of this day is weird."
Dais nodded mutely and decided to continue on the previous conversation, "Our armors are Ronin Warrior armors and we got our armors from our grandfathers so that means our ancestors had contact with the Ancient One."
Suppressing a laugh, Kale sighed and smiled as he and Dais ran out the kitchen towards Kayura who the spirit of the Ancient One communicated with frequently.
Because of his royal status, the advisor and general could speak freely to the queen in front of the entire populace and he could also arrange meetings with her. Oleiriset, the Queen's personal advisor and general, surveyed the spectators of the public meeting. Every family in the group at some point integrated the blood and strengths of their enemies, but despite being descended from the women in the harems, they had the obvious traits of the snake blood - thick occasionally scaly skin, small bulging eyes and hair colors ranging from green, black, yellow and various shades that never grew properly. Oleiriset's white and yellow hair blended perfectly together. A few of the snake demons were able to pose as humans in the mortal world. Oleiriset was one of those few.
The advisor quickly turned his attention to the throne as queen Naga silenced the crowd. Naga announced to the group, "Now that advisor Oleiriset has finished his years of study, we can properly discuss the future course of our blood." The snake demons always referred to themselves as blood instead of people. Then, she said directly to him, "Advisor Oleiriset, our people are restless. They desire to return to the era of prosperity and peace that they enjoyed before losing the Yamanouchi and relocating to the nether world."
"Yes, I understand." The initial capture of the last remaining descendent of Yamanouchi Nazaka boosted the confidence and esteem of the snake demons. Their society flourished with the sadistic pleasure that is involved with vengeance. After Sekhmet escaped, the snake demons, lacking the cure for their collective mental illness, followed him into the nether world where they hid and tried to ally themselves with Talpa and Badamon in order to further influence Sekhmet's life. Talpa feared that their influence would cause his warlord to question his intentions so he denied them an alliance.
Oleiriset breathed deeply to keep his composure. "In order to achieve a total victory, all nine armors must be destroyed. Our biggest threat at this moment will be Kayura." He instantly raised his hands towards the audience to prevent any questions. He already knew the answers. "The five elemental Ronin Warriors will soon be preoccupied. Their defeat is secure. That only leaves the former warlords for us to fight. In case the general populous is ignorant of a certain fact, Anubis who temporarily replaced the Ancient One, is dead so there is one less to worry us. Kale is of no special blood and Dais should never be considered a threat despite that his grandfather, Kuroda Jiguro, was born from the Clan of the Ancient! Jiguro was cursed by a nether spirit, which canceled out the powers of the Clan. Jiguro then mingled his bloodline with that of a weaker bloodline, resulting in a weaker Kuroda generation. Their only surviving son further mingled the Clan ancestry with another weak bloodline, from which Dais was born. Kayura is the last pure descendent of the Clan. Therefore she is the strongest and the most dangerous."
Naga dismissed his words and stated bluntly with all the symptoms of the mental illness that is revenge, "Killing Kayura is of no major importance to me. Nazaka brutally murdered my father so I must torture Nazaka in effigy. Now that Sekhmet has his grandfather's armor, he will use the armor against us. I want Sekhmet returned to his rightful place. Am I correct in believing that you have a plan? Remember that brute force is wasteful and dangerous."
"Yes, you are correct," Oleiriset replied worriedly; the queen said before the meeting that she wanted to discuss the well-being of the snake demons, but she uncharacteristically jumped past all of the problems and all of the various solutions and decided to follow only one course. However, he could not ask her until later
His strategy was, "There is a certain rule that I learned in my studies: the greater the kindness, the greater the deception. Talpa's kindness was giving Sekhmet a comfortable position of power and Nazaka's armor. Talpa's deception was using Sekhmet solely for the armor and then to kill him. Well, Sekhmet still lacks certain things that are almost a necessity for every individual. I will go to him, give him the necessity (the kindness) and then lead him here (the deception). It is the exact same method that Talpa used, but his plan was foiled by the Ancient One so I wish that Kayura be killed before we retrieve the descendent of Nazaka."
The tiger walked stealthily across the long ramp on the top of the newly constructed skyscraper. The city lights glittered brightly, illuminating the area for miles. The people of the city, like their ancestors for thousands of years, retired to their beds for the night while the nocturnal workers busied themselves sleepily in an attempt to stay awake. As the tiger examined the land, a great sadness flowed through him. All of his friends were dead: his beloved, his parents, his friends, his comrades, his student. everyone. Soon more people dear to him might die.
The entire city was built over the remains of lord Mitoma Hitomaro's castle where eight Ronin Warriors fought desperately against Hariel and the White Inferno. 500 years ago, lord Mitoma Hitomaro, a man with a peculiar philosophy for life, bought the White Inferno from Chinese merchants and forgot about it when the Ancient One gave him the armor Strata. Hitomaro was guilt-ridden forever when he learned that he was responsible for bringing the threat (also the near destruction of the world) to Japan and was responsible for the death of a little girl who was killed because of the White Inferno. Hitomaro's promise to live saintly life was shattered when his grandson desired to steal Strata and to become a warlord for Talpa. Hitomaro compromised his vow. He murdered his grandson and then killed himself. Without an heir, the other members of the Mitoma clan warred upon each other for succession. The castle was eventually destroyed and the area fell under the control of a more powerful lord.
The tiger breathed deeply once. There were tears in his eyes that threatened to come out.
Setting aside his grief, the tiger stepped off the ramp and turned around to look at it. The steep angle up the ramp was perfect for his intentions. Preparing himself, the tiger placed his foot on the steel ramp and focused on shoving a psychological wedge in his mind. Then, he zoomed up the ramp, shoving the wedge deeper as he ran faster. When he neared the end, the wedge split his mind. Two separate voices could be heard arguing about old spites and fighting for privacy. Then, the tiger flew across the end of the ramp and onto the roof of the adjacent building where the two voices regained their privacy.
White Blaze and Black Blaze faced each other, breathless. The two tigers sat down and waited until the strain of existing as one and then separating themselves began to disappear in memory.
"You know what the new threat is," stated Black Blaze somberly.
White Blaze nodded. "The Inferno armor."
Another moment of silence passed. The two tigers gained sympathy and understanding for the other while they existed as one. In that sense, White Blaze was more like a friend than anyone else was to the other tiger. The other tiger unfortunately never knew how to treat a friend. "Well, the battle will begin in a few days, a week at the most." He turned to leave.
"Wait! Black Blaze, I have a question!"
The two counterparts faced each other again. "What is the question?"
"What will happen to Ryo and his friends? Will they live? If Ryo dies, I-"
"Calm yourself, White Blaze," the other tiger said. After the death of the Ancient One, Ryo became White Blaze's sole reason for existence. "You know the prophecy."
Would Ryo fall victim to the evil armor that killed so many innocent people who were dear to White Blaze and his friends? If Ryo fell victim, he would become the murderer and only his death could save the world. It was the only tactic that White Blaze knew worked. During the past two years, White Blaze had many opportunities to kill Ryo in his sleep, to give him a quick easy death which would be merciful compared to the Inferno's enslavement.
"I am the Guardian of Virtue!" he declared. "My duty is to protect Ryo!"
Black Blaze frowned, "Only until Ryo is able to protect himself and Ryo has been fully capable of defending himself for the past two years. The White Inferno almost killed you. Your skills are useless in protecting him against either Inferno."
After the two tigers left without another word, White Blaze immediately jumped on Ryo's bed and began to position himself comfortably near the end. The teenager awoke groggily, rolled onto his side, and tucked his legs nearer to his body to allow White Blaze plenty of room to rest. The teenager fell back asleep quicker than he awoke. Ryo hiked extensively earlier that day and was exhausted. White Blaze smelled various forest scents on him.
Gazing at Ryo's delicate neck, White Blaze again toyed with the idea of granting him a swift merciful death. 500 years ago, he vowed to kill anyone who wore the Inferno no matter what. He still had yet to complete his vow with Ryo who bore the Inferno. White Blaze tensed his muscles to pounce. A swift merciful death would be kinder than the drawn-out torture that Ryo would endure under the Inferno's control. White Blaze focused his eyes on the thin, pale neck of sleeping Ryo. He would never allow Ryo to become a slave of the Inferno! White Blaze's muscles coiled up. Then, the tiger sprang off the bed and ran outside where he cried himself to sleep. Ryo awoke him in the morning, ignorant of White Blaze's troubles and opinions.
"Where's Kayura?" Kale inquired of the other two former warlords as he sat down at the table with a plate of food in his hands.
"Still meditating," Dais replied rather angrily. He was always deeply irritated after waking up and he was only awake for a few minutes.
After the defeat of Talpa, there was a new threat every single month, which left little time for socializing. Because of their busy schedule, mealtimes became the perfect time for relaxation and for conversations that consisted primarily of their jobs and duties in keeping the nether world in harmony - regulating and restricting the amount of nether spirits and soldiers that a youja could have, gradually lowering the amount in order to balance all of the spiritual worlds and the mortal world, tactics against the current threat, and the affairs of other major youja. During that rare period with Dais too upset for a conversation and Sekhmet never prone to decent conversations, Kale began to think about his life.
Why did he agree to join Talpa? Kale, born into a clan of ninjas, was disgusted at his lord. His lord was an incompetent fool who wished to waste the entire regime of ninjas and samurais. Those of the highest strength had to accomplish the menial tasks while those of the lowest strength had to accomplish the excruciating tasks. His lord never allowed the wisest to offer advice or to strategize. His lord always formulated the most ridiculous plans. Everyone, the Date clan, the Hideyoshi family, the Tokugawa clan, and the Sanada clan trampled over him. Even the fragile Mitoma clan arranged victories over his lord! The Ronin Warrior legend was a mockery when Kale grew up and no one thought highly of them. In fact, when Kale officially became a ninja, the Ronin Warrior legend was forgotten. After several discussions with Talpa, Kale concluded that the emperor was sensible, sane, and worthy of his skills so Kale took his armor and agreed to serve Talpa.
"How did we get our armors?" Kale asked Dais and Sekhmet suddenly.
"I always had my armor." Dais said curiously, more awake now and less angry. After two years of comradeship, they felt somewhat comfortable talking about their pasts and their families. "Well, my armor actually belonged to my family. I think. I think my father got the armor when his father died. I know the armor was kept in storage until I took it. I don't know what my grandfather did with the armor. I only remember my grandfather's funeral."
Kale leaned back in his chair. "I saw my grandfather a few times, but those memories are vague. He died when I was seven, but I did not attend the funeral. The armor was like something that no one wanted to be in the Sasaki clan." He knew his grandfather was disgraced somehow, which disgraced his children and grandchildren.
"I didn't know you were born into the Sasaki ninja clan," Dais said. "Where I lived, there were always rumors and stories about how Sasaki Idoju hated the Sanada clan, especially this one ninja who wasn't really a Sanada or something."
"Sasaki Idoju is my grandfather!" Kale exclaimed, jumping out of his chair.
Dais tensed at Kale's unexpected outburst. When his comrade calmed down, he said, "My grandfather is Kuroda Jiguro."
Without warning, Sekhmet sprang out of his chair and charged through the door. His loud footsteps were heard for several moments before disappearing with the distance. Dais and Kale stared after him in shock. That was the most response that Sekhmet displayed concerning anything. The two former warlords wondered what made him run.
Comforting his head in his right hand, Kale noted for the sake of noting, "The beginning of this day is weird."
Dais nodded mutely and decided to continue on the previous conversation, "Our armors are Ronin Warrior armors and we got our armors from our grandfathers so that means our ancestors had contact with the Ancient One."
Suppressing a laugh, Kale sighed and smiled as he and Dais ran out the kitchen towards Kayura who the spirit of the Ancient One communicated with frequently.