008 - The Truly Strong Ice Dragon | Ice Age: Glaciation
In the middle of the day, the sun is supposed to be out and heating the land, but only the cold and frosty element dominate the large area of the land, leaving only a disdainful vibe to the people who are trying to live in the human village. In the snowy biome that previously was a plain biome, there are two people walking through it. They are Rumia Kamishirasawa and-
"YUKARI HAKUREI!" Rumia keeps on shouting at Yukari about something. It was probably the weather. Or the incident that is causing this harsh, cold weather. "Stop being lazy and move!" Yukari felt the cold on her skin. "I would have if you just let me grab my coat first. It's not exactly easy to move in snow."
"Is that so? Last time I checked, you only had those clothes. You know, the amogus jacket, vine boom t-shirt, red-purple shorts, and a pair of crocs." Yukari just zipped her own mouth and moved faster than Rumia. "Hey! Wait up! Don't leave me!" Rumia used her darkness ability to catch up with Yukari.
During their travels, they found a group of people just standing in the middle of the road. Rumia approached them. "Hey! This pathway is dangerous. You should go back to the human village if you don't want to get eaten by the youkai or freeze in this winter." Rumia tried telling them, but they didn't move, not even an inch. Yukari already knew what's up.
"Rumia…" Rumia, however, didn't catch on. "Yes, Yukari? I know. These people are really stubborn." Yukari grabbed Rumia by the shoulder. "...They're dead." Rumia was shocked at this. "I-Is that so? That can't be possible. They're just standing there, look!" Rumia pointed at them, but Yukari got close to one of them and slightly and gently poke them.
They suddenly fell over and shattered on impact. "They're already frozen to the point that they can just break at the slightest movement or by impact of hitting the ground." Rumia shed a single tear after Yukari demonstrated what happened to them. "That can't be! No! I failed them!" Rumia ran back to the human village, scared that the people there were frozen.
Yukari is the only one left at the scene where the group of people are frozen over. "...The culprit must be one powerful being to the point it can freeze people when they're just standing. I dare say that they are nature itself, therefore they're strong." After Yukari gave her thoughts on this, she casually went to the human village to see if Rumia broke down or not.
Once Yukari went to the human village, she saw Rumia broke down because of the massive death count. People froze while standing as some of them fell over and shattered on impact. 'Hmm… I better solve this incident quickly before more bodies turn up.' Yukari approached Rumia and grabbed her shoulder. "If we want to stop this, we need to move. Now."
Rumia cried for another second, then nodded. "Y-You're right. *wipes of her dark tears* Wait, maybe there are some survivors here?" Yukari already took into account that there are survivors in the village, so she already made a plan. "I already took care of them while you're crying. They're in a safe place." Rumia is slightly happy about that. 'Well, they're in between the boundaries and unconscious, anyway.'
"Let's move. The person who caused this will pay." Rumia moved forward to the origin point of the incident, which isn't far from here, by traveling through the shadows to be quicker. Yukari used her boundaries to check on the people. "They're fine." She can also make a tear in space and create a gap, then she uses the gap as a spy drone to ensure the realm is not in anarchy.
"The one who is generating this snow is on the mountain called Mountain of Doom. Fitting that the culprit is up there since they're the ones who started this incident in the first place. They will answer for their crimes." Yukari stopped looking at her gap and slowly and casually ran to the mountain where she will meet with Rumia there.
Yukari encountered some fairies, but she was able to kill them with ease. 'Fairies will just respawn, anyway. There are fairies trying to shoot me, but no bandits, youkais, or anything that wants to attack me. Weird. In the past, they usually attacked me without the slightest hesitation, but now? They are either afraid of me or don't want to die. Those two things are interconnected,' she thought as she stopped running and just walked to the Mountain of Doom.
Yukari kept getting shot at by the local fairies. But in the end, it doesn't even matter. One time when Yukari was fighting with fairies, one fairy shouted, "Look! Look! It's the old hag!" But Yukari is not angry or anything. She responded back by saying, "Oh yeah? You look like a fetus that has gone through abortion." Then that fairy cried and went back to her home. The fairy will be scarred for the rest of her life, not even death can make her forget that.
After Yukari killed some fairies left and right, she's already at the entrance of Mountain of Doom. "That's weird. Rumia should be here by now. Where is she?" Yukari confusingly looked around, but she already knew that Rumia went inside because of her outburst back at the human village. 'Rumia is the protector of the human village, and seeing her people die like flies left and right. Well, one can only guess what will happen when she meets the culprit.'
Yukari waited for a while when the gust of wind was done mowing down some trees. She timed it right, so she doesn't get hit by the sharpness of the air when moving up the mountain. You may be asking, "why doesn't Yukari fly?" It's because she's too much of a lazy woman to the point that she doesn't want to fly. And also, she probably forgot how to fly due to her being lazy every single day.
Yukari saw some thick and strong frozen logs crashing down in her direction. She slowly and casually moved to the side, so she doesn't get crushed by it. "The user must be part of nature. They can freeze logs even though it's not water. Or that, they really spent their time mastering the ice magic. Either way, they're still going to have their ass handed to them when I meet them. Or maybe Rumia already did it."
Yukari punched a large frozen log using her pinky and continued to move upwards on the mountain. She encountered fairies again, but this time, there were youkais that came into the mix. "Oh, finally. Another problem. Fortunately, I have the solution for this… DIE." The fairies and youkais shivered down to their bones.
The best part is when Yukari said "It's Yukari time" then Yukari'd all over the fairies and youkais. Truly one of the best and legendary fights in the entirety of planet earth. Yukari then roughly grabbed the last youkai alive and pulled their skull out, then she bashed it back on the body, making a bloody mess on her, the corpse, and the ground.
"Bloody hell I got blood on me. Nothing a good old boundary powers to fix this." Yukari utilized her boundary ability to instantly clean off any blood that somehow dropped on her clothes. After Yukari was done cleaning, she slowly took her time to go to the main boss area. After reaching her destination, she saw that Rumia was on the floor, barely alive.
Yukari saw the final boss. "That's an ice dragon, about thirty meters in height and one thousand kilograms in weight," Yukari analytically said as she approached Rumia. The ice dragon saw this and immediately attacked both of them. Yukari used her op powers to fling the ice dragon somewhere far away. Yukari tended to Rumia's wound, but didn't need it since she can regenerate just fine.
"I don't need healing, I need to kill the ice dragon!" Rumia shouted at the top of her lungs, which is not good for her wounded body. "Mate, calm down. The ice dragon will not be going anywhere. In fact, it's probably coming back to get revenge for me tossing them to some random place." Yukari tried to calm down Rumia, and it successfully worked.
"You're right. Being angry at a situation like this is not good. Anger is never the solution to anything unless you're a psychopath." Rumia's job is a teacher at a school at the human village, so she probably knows her stuff relating to topics like this. "You good, mate? Then we should get prepared before the ice dragon comes back."
But the ice dragon came back sooner than they expected. Rumia blinded the ice dragon on the eyes using her darkness manipulation, the ice dragon then rampaged because it couldn't see anything. Meanwhile, Yukari immobilizes it by chaining it through the gaps that she had just opened. The ice dragon tried to break free, but the chains were too strong.
The ice dragon opened its mouth, then the temperature instantly dropped to a celsius that would instantly freeze someone even if they have a campfire. Rumia somehow got out in time while Yukari wasn't affected by it, she already prepared a defense mechanism that is specifically for this ice dragon. Since Rumia is gone, the ice dragon can see now, and it sees Yukari.
"I wonder… Can you speak?" Yukari asked, already knowing the answer to that question. Then in a surprise, the ice dragon did speak. "D-DON'T LEAVE M-ME… SHINDAYOSEI!" The ice dragon cried out in pain and also in PTSD, too. "Shindayosei? Ah, so your friend is no longer here. Still though, that's not an excuse to freeze the entire realm."
Yukari swerved side to side after the ice dragon launched some icicles at her, then the ice dragon smashed the ground in anger as it was saying, "I'M WEAK!" Yukari rolled her eyes, accidentally making the eyes jump out of its eyehole before she put them back. "Don't underestimate yourself. If it was any other person who fought you, then they will say hi to their maker."
The ice dragon continued to rampage, Yukari's chains were somehow broken when it smashed the ground. "I'M NOT STRONG! I'M WEAK! SHE DIED BECAUSE I COULDN'T SAVE HER!" The ice dragon continued telling their story on how they lost their friend. "If it's any consolation, I'm sorry for your loss. But can you please stop freezing the realm?" Yukari shamelessly asked it to stop, not even bothering with its life story.
"YOU JUST WANT TO KILL ME LIKE EVERYONE DID! I'LL KILL YOU FIRST BEFORE YOU KILL ME, YOU BAKA!" Yukari shook her head at the stupidity of this ice dragon. 'Despite being a dragon, this specific ice dragon is lacking in the brain department. If a being like this has so much power but is stupid enough to do this kind of thing, then they need to be contain,' she thought as she attacked the ice dragon with her boundary ability.
Having said ability will provide much easier entrapment to such beings like this. The ice dragon stopped attacking Yukari and rolling on the ground in pain. "AAAAAAAA! MY HEAD! WHAT DID YOU DO, BAKA!?" Yukari immediately chained the ice dragon up and got closer because she already knows it can't move.
"You know, you could have good friends and your friend, Shindayosei, still alive, but it's sad it had to be this way." Yukari slowly walked away from the ice dragon as the ice dragon cried in regret. "No… no… NOOOOOO!" Then Yukari summoned a large gap that could fit the ice dragon when entering inside. She successfully contained the ice dragon as Yukari closed the gap after it went inside.
Yukari went back down and said, "Another job well done. Finally, I can now sleep and get that reward. The reward of sleeping in a luxurious bed given by Rumia herself." After saying that, Yukari already forgot the ice dragon as it will no longer be a trouble for the realm for it is contained to the heavily guarded prison, which is Yukari's gap.
Yukari is now at the town hall of the human village, watching many people record the deaths of their beloved ones, some other people tending to the wounded ones. The doctor who is one tending to health challenged people is none other than Panacea Gloom. She's a doll that somehow gained consciousness. Some say that she's created by a doctor who is addicted to medicines.
"How's the treatment, doc?" Yukari asked the doctor. Panacea tiredly and unhappily looked at Yukari's face. "It's going well. With my antidote, anything can be fixed and cured." Yukari nodded at that. She left the doctor to do her business. Yukari went to the person who's recording the deaths in a paper. The person shall be known as-
"Hieda no Yuuka. What's the death count?" Yukari inquired as the chronicler turned in her direction with a neutral expression on her face. "One thousand and seven hundred fifty. That's the total deaths that the human village got." Hieda no Yuuka is an interesting woman. When mentioning grim topics such as deaths, she doesn't get scared or anxious. No, she instead just has that neutral expression. There are some rumors that she acquires a new vessel every time her old ones die, but that's just a rumor… right?
"Hmm. That's kinda serious, don't you think?" Yuuka shrugged as she finished recording all the deaths and the incident which will be named as the Ice Age: Glaciation. "Wanna come to my writing room? I take it that you wanted to know what I wrote relating to the incident." Yukari was about to head out, then she was asked by Yuuka.
"Sure. I got time." Then she thought, 'Well, I just sleep anyway, which I had to admit is lazy, but what can you do? It's my life.' Yukari followed Yuuka to the writing room in a casual manner. After they got inside, Hieda no Yuuka gave Yukari the rundown on what had happened in the incident.
"During the incident known as "Ice Age: Glaciation", the total deaths that had happened was 1,750. The culprit is believed to be an ice dragon. Now that we know the species of the culprit, it's only natural that so many people will die during the incident. The incident ended the moment the Hakurei shrine maiden sealed the ice dragon using her boundary and gap abilities," Hieda no Yuuka finished saying as she was writing it at the same time.
She turned to Yukari and said, "Do you want to remodify it or is it fine as it is?" Yukari recalled the event. 'Everything she said is all correct. I mean, I'm the one who said it to her.' Yukari nodded professionally. "No. Everything you said is correct." Hieda no Yuuka used her manipulation of flowers to store the scroll on the shelves.
Now that Yukari saw the shelves, she thought that so many incidents happened in the past. But she was able to prevent it from destroying the realm. After that, Yukari scanned the decoration in the writing room. 'The room has that flower vibe. Heck, the whole building is.' Yukari said goodbye to the chronicler and went to find Rumia.
Yukari found her at the lamprey stall. She sat down next to Rumia who was eating the grilled lamprey. "So… have you calmed down, teach?" Rumia didn't hear Yukari for the first time. "...Rumia." Then finally, Rumia heard her. She looked to her left and saw Yukari sitting down next to her. "Oh… hey Yukari…"
Yukari knows she's sad because she has known her for a long time. "Come on, don't be sad. At least we prevented another incident. *sigh* One incident after another." Yukari ordered a grilled lamprey as the night sparrow got to cooking. Yukari grabbed Rumia's left shoulder. "You should know that it's not your fault that the people died because of the ice dragon. In fact, you should be happy that we saved those who remained."
Rumia ate the lamprey, which is raw by the way, and has that sad look on her face. "...Is that so?" Yukari nodded and responded by saying, "That is so." Rumia chuckled and playfully punched Yukari's right shoulder. "You always know what to say to make someone happy." Yukari smiled. The vibe here at the lamprey stall is good…
"How about that luxurious bed that you're going to reward me with?" Yukari has that smile that resembles that of a person who is a trickster. Rumia lost her happiness, but there's still some sliver of it. "Yeah, yeah. I'll send it to you once I'm done with the report." Rumia finished her lamprey and left. The night sparrow came back with Yukari's order. "Here you go, miss." Then left to get the orders of the other customers.
Yukari ate the lamprey in peace. After finishing and paying the night sparrow with legit money, she heads back to her home, only to be greeted by the luxurious bed that Rumia promised her. Yukari inspected it and it was indeed luxurious. "Hmm, this is a luxurious bed that I'm going to be sleeping in." Yukari replaced the western bed with that luxurious bed. Now, she can sleep in peace. "WOOOOOOOOO! Yukari, I found the mushroom bomb!" Yukari slept peacefully alright.
Author Note: Hi. I'm the author of Nanpono: Alternative Oriental. Nice to meet you, person from the internet. Today, I'll be responding to the reviews that you people posted. Let's see here. We'll start with this comment/review.
The Lone Gunslinger: Oh lord, this seems interesting. On another note, the creation of the IRS in Gensokyo would definitely count as an incident.
Author Response: The IRS in this universe is different from what you're thinking, though. And the land that is inhabited by the people such as Yukari and the others isn't called Gensokyo. It's called something else, but I won't be revealing it in this response.
Guwsr: What kind of cursed shit have you brought upon this world? It's a legitimate concern, but at the same time it's extremely intriguing. Oh well... do carry on, it would be nice to see more.
Author Response: Yes, I'll carry on with this abomination. :clown_face: :cold_face: