Chapter 10

Judgment of Shadows and Storms

Two months after the end of the Stormterror crisis

The sun was high in the sky when Aether and Paimon walked through the door of the Komore Teahouse.

"Hey Will? We're here, where are you?" Paimon called out as the door closed. But there was no reply, except the barking of Taroumaru on the counter. The Shiba looked at them both, his canine eyes wide and his ears flat against his head. "How strange… it's never this quiet here," Paimon said to Aether, who nodded. Taroumaru barked again, and the pair realized that the barks were not meant to greet them. Something had unnerved the retired Shuumatsuban ninja dog.

"Hey Taroumaru, what's wrong? What's got you all worked up?" Aether asked, approaching the ninja dog only to back off when he growled at the blonde unexpectedly. At that moment, the door swung open behind them, and both Ayaka and Will burst in, their faces struck with worry and fear. "Woah, what's going on today? You both look like you've seen a ghost!"

Ayaka shook her head while Will quickly got to work, locking the door behind them and closing the blinds on the windows. "I wish that were true, but it seems the situation may be much worse. Please tell me you ran into Thoma this morning on your way here!" Ayaka exclaimed. When Aether and Paimon both shook their heads, her eyes widened with disbelief. "Then it as we feared... On the way here, Will and I heard that Thoma had been taken away by the Tenryou Commission. We couldn't believe it was true, so we hurried to meet you two and Thoma here. The fact that he hasn't arrived here as we arranged suggests that it is true."

"But why would the Tenryou commission take Thoma?" Paimon asked. Will walked back into the main lobby and frantically ushered them into the same room where they'd all taken part in the game of Hot Pot a few weeks earlier. When they were all seated, he pulled on a cord hidden against the wall, and a large gate closed down, sealing them in the room.

"Last night, when I met with Ayato and Ayaka to inform them of our discoveries of a Fatui camp in Araumi, he told us that the Raiden Shogun is holding a Vision Hunt Ceremony at the Statue of the Omnipresent God today, to mark the one-hundredth Vision seized under the decree. And the Vision bearer in question... the one who will have their Vision seized, we fear... is Thoma," Will explained.

Paimon's jaw dropped. "Hold up a second... So the ceremony that Thoma said the Tenryou Commission was busy preparing for... that was this Vision Hunt Ceremony? And he was the target all along?" she asked, and both Will and Ayaka nodded.

"That seems to be the case…" Will said, confirming everyone's fears. "The Shogun and the Tenryou Commission see the ceremony as a milestone. With the one-hundredth Vision, they wish to mark the success of the Vision Hunt Decree to date."

As he said this, Ayaka's eyes narrowed. She turned around and walked over to the cord and pulled on it, causing the folding gate to retreat back into the ceiling. "This cannot be allowed to happen. I must go and rescue him!" she resolved, but all three of her friends in the room gasped and hastily moved to block her path. At the same time, Taroumaru, who had somehow managed to sneak into one of the darkened corners of the room, began frantically barking as well.

"But you are the Shirasagi Himegimi! Like it or not, you represent the whole Yashiro Commission. So if you go and pull a stunt like that, you'd effectively be declaring war against the Raiden Shogun!" Aether exclaimed. "And by doing it so publicly…"

Paimon nodded. "If you charge in to save Thoma, you might be implicating a lot of other people from the Yashiro Commission, too…" she added, but Ayaka shook her head.

"But what if… But I can't just… I must act with haste! The ceremony is about to begin. I will not abandon Thoma like this. He is my friend!" she cried out, sinking to the floor in despair for the safety of one of her longest and most trusted friends, one whom she had even come to see as a second brother.

"He is our friend, too. I will save him," Aether reassured her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"But-" she started to say, looking at the blonde.

Aether cut her off. "You said it yourself. No time to delay," the traveler said, and Will nodded, helping her to her feet.

"Okay, I'll… wait here for your return. Get back safely," she pleaded, and Will stood next to her.

"Aether, Paimon, I know I promised to explain my past to you, but it looks like that'll have to wait. Go help Thoma, I'll stay here and make sure Ayaka is safe, just in case the Tenryou Commission comes after her as well," he apologized. Ayaka opened her mouth to protest, but Will shook his head. "No Ayaka. Your brother gave me strict orders to keep you safe at all costs if something like this should happen. You were there, remember?"

Paimon nodded, and she flew towards Ayaka and wrapped her tiny arms around Ayaka's neck. "Don't worry, Ayaka. A friend's life is on the line. We ain't about to mess this up!" she said, before breaking away from the hug to fly after Aether, who was already poking his head out the door to make sure the coast was clear.

Shaken by the sudden turn of events, Ayaka sat down at the table and stared at the wall. "To think that not long ago, we were… all eating hotpot together… right at this very table…" she muttered under her breath. Will and Taroumaru sat down next to her, neither saying anything. Will merely rubbed circles on her back in an attempt to calm her down, and Taroumaru rested his head on her lap.

But even both of their efforts were not enough to drive off Ayaka's worries, and both Will and Taroumaru knew it. The room was entirely silent save for Will's occasional whisper of "Don't worry… everything is going to be okay."

Suddenly, the tension in the room broke as a loud thunderclap echoed from outside. All three of them looked up, each of them fearing the worst. "I really hope that doesn't mean what I think it means…" Will thought to himself. He wanted desperately to run after Aether and Paimon, to make sure they and Thoma were okay, but he couldn't. He'd sworn to protect Ayaka no matter what. How could his own wishes possibly compare to that oath?

As if she could read his mind, Ayaka looked Will dead in the eyes. "Go. Please, help them. You know as well as I do that I am not defenseless. I will stay here with Taroumaru until you all return… Please Will…" she pleaded, and after a moment, Will nodded.

"Very well. I swear to you, I will return, and I will do all that is within my power to ensure the Aether, Paimon, and Thoma all return safely with me," he promised, before dashing out the door, and channeling Anemo power into his run. The wind picked up behind him, and the length of his stride doubled, carrying him to the steps of Tenshukaku in seconds. The remains of a large crowd stared at the wooden platforms in front of the statue in shocked silence. He pushed through the crowd and saw two defeated Doushin lying on the ground beside Thoma.

Will's heart skipped a beat as he saw Aether lying unconscious, his Rancour blade broken in two beside him. Paimon was desperately shaking his body, trying to wake him up as the Raiden Shogun herself slowly walked towards him, a brightly glowing katana in her hands. She raised the blade up into the air, and Will's entire body froze as the sword dropped down. He'd failed. He'd arrived just a moment too late.

But then, as if to tell Will that he hadn't failed yet, the Visionless Thoma cut the ropes with the edge of one of the Doushin's spears. In a fluid motion, he stood up, pulled the spear out of the wooden boards, and threw it like a javelin. The polearm sailed through the air and straight towards the Shogun, who at the last second was forced to cease her attack and block it. The resulting explosive force sent her skidding back, and also woke up Aether from his unconscious state, propelling him and Paimon through the air only to be caught by Thoma. Without a moment to lose, The trio ran for the edge of the platform and jumped, summoning their wind gliders to fly over the gorge.

It seemed they would all escape with their lives by the skin of their teeth, when out of the corner of his eye, Will saw the Shogun thrust her hand out, her fingers pointed at the escaping fugitives and cloaked with violent, purple lightning. Some of the crowd gasped in shock as they saw a flash of light from Will.

Before he knew it, Will had propelled himself into the air with a massive gust of wind, which then reformed into a twisting tornado, and he raised his hands, forming a wall of ice with his Cryo delusion between the Shogun's bolt of lightning, and his friends. The ice shattered instantly as the bolt slammed into it, but it also saved their lives, and the crowd scattered, screaming as they ran for cover as a battle ensued. The enraged Shogun's gaze flicked towards Will, who had drawn both swords, and had he been given any more time to rest, would have been entering the Foul Legacy Transformation. But it was too soon after his bout with the Fatui. He'd have to make do without it.

In a flash, the Shogun launched a bolt of lightning at him, and Will countered the attack with a Cryo spear. The icy projectile shattered in the air, and Will knew he had to keep the Shogun on the defensive if he was to stand any chance against her. Without a moment of hesitation, he hurled volleys of smaller icy spears from his hands like large darts, each of which was deflected by the Shogun's blade.

Will flew in towards the Archon, the tornado whipping in the air as he rocketed past her, his swords clashing against her own. He threw more icy projectiles in her direction as he tried to put some distance between himself and his foe, launching blasts of Anemo at her this time too. The Shogun dodged the attacks with acrobatic grace, and in a swift motion, she slashed through the air with her katana. A wave of lightning like a massive blade flew from her sword, striking the base of the spiraling winds keeping Will in the air.

He screamed as he fell to the ground, rolling as he hit the wooden planks and holding both swords in his hands. As he pushed himself up, the Shogun stared at him, noticing the Anemo vision on his waist, and the Cryo delusion hanging from his pendant-like necklace. "One who can wield elemental power without a Vision… and one who wields both a Vision, and one of her discarded weapons from many centuries ago… this day is certainly full of surprises…" the Electro Archon mused.

Will stared back at her, his eyes narrowed in determination. "Yeah, bet it's been a long time since a mere human had the guts to stand against you on their own huh?" he sarcastically shot back, lowering into a fighting stance. With that, the two charged at each other, their blades sending sparks of blue, turquoise, and purple into the air with every clash. As Will leaped over the Shogun's head with a burst of Anemo power, he released a gust of freezing cold wind down on her. As he landed behind the Archon, he slashed at her with both of his blades, swinging from the left and the right to meet in the middle. In response, the Shogun merely blinked as she teleported out of the way of the attack with a flash of lightning.

It was at that moment that Will managed to catch her off guard. Blinded for a split second by the light of the teleportation, she barely managed to bring her blade up to block Will's follow up cut as he charged past her. He skidded to a halt, and then pushed off the ground to attack once again. Blocking the attack once again, the two pressed their blades against one another in a blade lock, until the Shogun sent Will flying back with a slash of Electro power.

The boy hit the ground and rolled, but he managed to get to one knee just in time to raise his swords as the Shogun plummeted down on him with a powerful leaping slash. The Raiden Shogun pressed down on him in the blade lock, and Will could feel his feet slipping against the wooden floorboards. He looked over his shoulder and was relieved when he couldn't find any sign of his allies. "Looks like Thoma, Aether, and Paimon have gotten far enough away by now. Time to make myself scarce," he thought to himself. A grin formed on his face as a windy gust picked up around them.

Will looked back and stared down the Raiden Shogun as she pushed against his swords, her own sword starting to cut into Will's blades. "Looks like it's time for me to go, Almighty Shogun," he said, channeling the wind into a current that began to push their weapons apart millimeter by millimeter. With a shout, he broke the blade lock and sent his opponent skidding backward, while he used the current of wind to rocket skyward. He spread his arms, deploying his wind glider as he flew away from the statue.

But then, a massive bolt of lightning shot past him, barely missing him by a hair. So great was its energy that it created a wave of sound akin to standing next to one of Snezhnaya's massive pipe organs. The waves reverberated through the air, deafening him to the sounds around him, and it was by sheer luck that he happened to spin around and see the Shogun's army launching a barrage of crossbow bolts into the air. Instinct took over, and he folded his arms and then threw them out to the side, creating a large wave of air that shot out in all directions, and the arrows bounced off of it harmlessly and to the ground.

A second bolt of lightning split the sky, followed by a third, both narrowly avoided once again by Will. But then a fourth came, and though it didn't hit him, it pierced the right wing of his glider, rendering it useless. The boy fell from the sky, from a height that spelled certain death had he not instinctively thrown down a blast of wind from his hands right before he landed in a pit of sand, slowing his descent enough to keep him from being killed outright.

"Woah! Will are you all right?!" exclaimed a familiar voice, one that Will was all too relieved to hear. As he opened his eyes, searing pain shot through his leg, and he groaned as Aether helped him to his feet, while Thoma, Ayaka, and Paimon watched on in worry.

"Yeah…" he said, flinching as he tried to set his foot down on the ground. "Ow…" he groaned, and Aether wrapped an arm around his back to help support him. "Thanks, Aether…"

The blonde shook his head. "Don't mention it. Are you going to be ok?" he asked, and Will gently tried one more time to stand on his own two feet. He winced as pain raced through his leg, and frustratedly picked it back up.

"Well, I can move my leg, so it's not broken… but it's definitely going to be sore for a while yet. What's the situation?" he asked, and Thoma looked out to the sea. Will saw that he held his Pyro Vision in his hand, the edges still scorched by the Shogun's lightning.

"Like I just told Aether and Paimon, the Komore Teahouse is probably the safest place for me to hide. But I probably won't be able to leave for quite some time, maybe not even until the Vision Hunt Decree ends…" Thoma explained. "Additionally, the Shogun is almost certainly about to issue an arrest warrant on all of us here except for Ayaka, since she was not actually present at the ceremony tonight. Therefore, we must leave the next steps to Aether and Paimon. The two of you must go to Tatarasuna and find the Resistance."

Will tilted his head to the side. "What about me? I thought you said the plan was for all three of us to go," he said, but Ayaka shook her head.

"It was, but with your foot injured, you can barely stand on your own, much less walk, and to say nothing of being able to run, or even fight against the Shogun's army," she replied. "I'm sorry Will, but it's better that you remain here with Thoma."

Will narrowed his eyes as he considered it. "Actually, I must disagree. While it might be safer for me to stay here and hide, doing so runs the risk of incriminating the whole of the Yashiro commission, should the Shogunate come knocking," he said. "If that happens, Thoma can hide away in a corner, or up in the rafters. I can't do either very easily with my leg as banged up as it is."

"Plus, while you may have prevented the Shogun from killing Aether, Thoma, from an observer's standpoint, you were merely trying to save his life. On the other hand, Aether, Paimon, and I all actually engaged the Raiden Shogun in battle. As far as the people in Inazuma city know, Aether and Paimon aren't involved with the Yashiro Commission," Will added. "Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for me at this present time. Therefore, if anyone should see me being sheltered by the Yashiro Commission, and report it, it could bring both of the other commissions down on us."

Ayaka slowly nodded her head, starting to catch on to what Will was saying. "You sound like you have at least some semblance of a plan. What is it?"

Will looked over at her with appreciation. "It's too soon for the Yashiro Commission to take any action, but tonight, Aether and I will start to make our way towards Watatsumi Island. Tomorrow morning, however, I think it'd be best if your brother made a formal announcement at least to the Shogun, if not to the other commissions too, saying that I had already gone rogue from the Yashiro Commission," he replied. "This serves three purposes. One, it'll clear the Yashiro Commission of any ideas that you were responsible for my actions by sending me to rescue Thoma. Two, anyone who was seen working with me, like Yoimiya back when the two of us were rescuing Master Masakatsu the first time, will be less likely to have to submit to an investigation by the Tenryou Commission, thus also outwardly separating them from the Yashiro Commission. Lastly, it'll hopefully keep some of the heat off of you and your brother's backs."

"So what you're saying is, you want the Yashiro Commission to publicly denounce you?" Thoma guessed, and Will nodded.

"Precisely. With the Yashiro Commission eliminated as a suspect, there are only two other alternatives that I can think of if I were in the Shogun's position. Possibility A is that Aether and I were working on our own to sabotage the Vision Hunt Decree. But more likely is that the Tri-Commission will go with option B, which is the assumption that Aether, Paimon, and I, are all agents sent by the Resistance, who are much better equipped to handle such an accusation than the Yashiro Commission is."

Ayaka and Thoma narrowed their eyes in thought. What Will said did make sense. If Komore Teahouse was subjected to an inspection, Thoma could stay out of sight a lot better than Will with a broken leg could. Also true was Will's hypothesis about what might happen if the Kamisato clan was reported to be sheltering him. At least with Thoma, they could hide his Vision and hand over a counterfeit, and then he'd probably be free to go. Will was going to get a sentence of execution, and so would Aether and Paimon. There was simply no way to avoid it.

After a while, Ayaka nodded. "All right then. Will, as my last official order to you, while you are in the employ of the Yashiro Commission, you are to accompany Aether and Paimon to Watatsumi Island, and you are to stay alive, no matter what it takes," she said, and Will nodded in agreement.

"Will do boss. Stay safe. Both of you. I'll keep an eye out for any messages from the Shuumatsuban, or from Ayato with his Hydro Vision," Will replied, kneeling down. His Cryo Delusion glowed briefly, and then Cryo energy dispersed from his hand, reforming around his injured ankle as a cast made of ice, not unlike the one he'd made shortly after Yoimiya woke him up on Byakko beach. "Hopefully that'll help some."

Thoma nodded. "Good thinking. And just as a reminder, the resistance was founded by Sangonomiya Kokomi, the Divine Priestess of Watatsumi Island, but right now, it's her subordinate, Gorou, who leads them in their war against the Shogun's Army," he said.

"Should we tell them we were sent by the Yashiro Commission?" Aether asked, and after a moment, Ayaka shook her head.

"I would advise against it. Though the Yashiro Commission is on better terms with the Resistance than the rest of the Tri-Commission, we're still officially part of the Shogunate. So your dealings with us would normally be frowned upon," she replied. Thoma nodded, but then shrugged.

"But you're different, so that shouldn't work against you... As far as I can see, the resistance shouldn't have any reason to turn you away. Especially once word of the Shogun's arrest warrant reaches them with your appearances," he pointed out, but then sighed. "The only issue is that we can't be sure of the resistance forces' current location. You'll have to ask around along the way. You'll likely pass through territory occupied by the Shogun's Army at some point. So, be sure to stay on your guard at all times."

Will, Aether, and Paimon all nodded. "Stay safe, both of you. And give Ayato and Yoimiya my regards, will you?" Will requested, and Ayaka giggled.

"I will. Now get going before anyone sees you. Make for the Waverider on Amakane Island. That'll get you across the ocean and over to Kannazuka," she replied, leading Thoma inside.

Aether looked over at Will. "Think you can walk ok?" he asked, and Will nodded.

"I think so. Let's go ahead and use the teleport crystal though, just so we don't have to risk sneaking through Inazuma City," Will said, leaning against Aether for support. The two held each other by the wrists, and in unison called out "Teleport: Byakko plain!"


A/N: Le gasp! Two Chapters in one day?! How can this be?!

Well, I honestly don't know. I had the first Shogun fight between Will and the Shogun mostly planned out already, all there was for that was to actually write it. Fun fact though, in order to truly make Will's "on the fly" plan at the end seem like it was, well, made up on the fly, I actually just wrote down the first things that came to my mind. One of the tricks I've sort of stopped using for some time now is whenever I hit some writer's block, I just imagine the scene through a first person point of view, and watch it play out as I let my imagination take the reins and see what happens. I've noticed that it doesn't always work as well as it does when I was first starting to post on FF with the original Sword Art Online fanfic I was making (that I do still plan to finish... at some point... No clue when, but at some point I would like to finish it.), but it does work really well sometimes.

Anyway, that about wraps up this chapter. I really hope you all liked the fight between the Shogun and Will, because things are only going to keep getting hairier for this intrepid duo!

A/N Part 2: Ok, I sincerely apologize for any confusion my frantic uploads might have caused last night. Long story short, I posted the Interlude chapter between chapters 9 and 10 around noon, and then finished up, proofread, and was about to post chapter 10 in the evening, when I realized that I hadn't actually uploaded chapter 9 yet. So, I frantically tried to delete the Interlude Chapter, and then post chapters 9, the interlude, and then chapter 10 all within like, a half hour, and I ended up actually breaking Fanfiction on my end. When I clicked on the preview button, it showed chapters 8, then 9, and then the interlude, but when I clicked on the link that showed me what my readers see, it gave me chapter 8, and then had the text for the interlude chapter as chapters 9 and the interlude, and then had the text for chapter 9 on the page for chapter 10. It sounds really confusing, and I eventually decided to just remove all three chapters from the story and just post nine last night, so now I just finished posting the interlude chapter, and here's chapter 10.

Again, my sincerest apologies to anyone who was confused about what happened last night, and I promise that I am going to be doing my best to keep these uploads on at the very least a consistent, one upload every other week schedule. That being said, Graduating High school and preparing for my first semester in college, while multitasking a Music Performance major, a Journalism focused communications major, doing marching band, working on getting everything set up to start my career in Voice acting, and also keeping time to just take a breath and relax, will make a consistent upload schedule difficult to abide by. But I will be doing my absolute best regardless!