Hello, everyone reading this. It's been a while. There is something that a certain good amount of planning can do. I'm not saying much else. Only that I'll see how this one will go down.
Also, this was written in a very unlikely location. I got a certain feeling when I'm writing. The more closed off I am, the better I seem to write. And nothing is better than to write hundreds of miles in the sky while I was flying my ass to Turkey. I got a lucky break as me and my old man got a passenger switching seats.
That is why I could have three hours of writing out this chapter and more likely, a few others.
Started on 09/01/2022
Ended on 11/01/2022
Matthijs overlooked how the War Divas were fighting. Or better said training. He could know hard it was to accept a foreign power inside your body. He had experienced it many years ago. Yet, those Ultras, those aliens, or whatever the flying fucking hell they were. They could prove to be what they would need to defeat the Orimura.
It would deal with one particular set of problems. The Reiki. His years spent next to Tatsuya had proven to him that wherever the Jaaku and Junsuina Reiki were, they weren't natural. Neither were the Nanites but they had at least a base where they formed.
Unlike the Reiki. He had learned that it could adapt to a form. Tatsuya's brothers were proof as they took the form of Demons.
The older man felt like the years were weighing on him when he watched the powers to be controlled by them. At least, the concept of natural elements was ingrained in them. Just like the movies that he had watched with Sarah's nieces.
Control was the most important thing. Not to conceal, not to feel. No, control your powers and your emotions.
His mind went back to Tatsuya. He and Tatsuya were often called the Wolf Brothers. His Nanites were already taken the form of a wolf and by some sick twisted sense of fate, Tatsuya's Reiki changed into an Okami Reiki.
Wolves they were. Skoll and Hatti.
They would kill each other. But Matthijs would make sure that the powers of the Reiki could never be used for something else.
He didn't have that long before the next generation was infected by the Reiki.
If they could find out where the fuck that energy came from.
The door of the training was flung open and Erwin pretty much ignored the shocked expressions of the women in the room. For some reason, all of them had lost every shred of clothing during that training.
And dignity as the younger Orlejov had no problem of letting his appreciation of their bodies show. That must explain the bad influence on Azalof. It was a good thing that Kerlongsj was too young for his father's antics. At least, the boy was three years and had just learned now to eat alone. Sarah blamed the motherly attitude Olivia.
"Boss." Erwin gave a half-hearted salute while he had a tablet in his hands.
"Erwin. I hope you got a good reason for barging in the room like this." Matthijs asked while the man just shrugged. A grin covered most of the face while he eyed the beauties.
"Besides getting the younger boys the wet dreams they so desperately crave. I correlated the data we got with what we got from our friends in high places." That name of the aliens was moronic, Matthijs would agree with the Divas.
"I found where the Reiki comes from. And I figured out what it is." Handing the tablet to the man that raised him as his son, Erwin turned serious. Matthijs gulped when he read the compiled information.
"Is this proven? Are you sure?"
"Would make sense. If those aliens told us they came to beat some Evil, well, I began to think on it. The Orimura must it get from somewhere as they infected their children with it. While most of the shit we got from the aliens was gibberish, I compiled with the data that we got when you lived with Tatsuya."
Erwin got serious. Just like their fathers, he had a rivalry with Izanagi. The Orlejov heir was broken, the Orimura heir was sick. They both had never reached their father's height.
"You sure that those aliens were correct? I don't trust those Ultras or whatever the holy fuck those asshats are." Erwin wasn't too happy with the aliens who were around them. It was a good thing that he believed his father because otherwise, it might have come down on a rougher patch.
"We have no choice. But to believe them. We destroy the Orimura now. The world might see a chance of getting free from them."
Erwin scoffed when he heard that line. It was always something that he heard his father say. His own said the same. His grandfather did as well.
"Might be. But we're not going to live to see that world now do we?" Matthijs couldn't argue on that but had long made peace with that. His father and brother also came to pass.
"Are you sure that the place is the right one? Despite all, you don't doubt 'our friends in high places?"
"It has to be this. And something tells me that we gotta move fast on this." Matthijs nodded and patted his son on the shoulder.
"Good work. Can I ask you to care of the rest of the preparations?"
"Order 759541?"
"Correct."
"On it, sir." Erwin saluted. That order meant that he could do something that he knew how to do best. Prepare for war. With a grim determination and a near gleeful feeling of enjoyment, Erwin left the room.
The Orlejov boss turned to the War Divas.
"Erwin found out what the Reiki is and what it all contains. I'll give you the recommendation to pack warm clothes and thermonuclear underwear. We're going far south." He would explain everything on the way.
After all, traveling from Belgium to Antarctica, even in one go, would take at least 24 hours.
Scene skip.
Matthijs could thank his Nanites for the withstanding of the cold. Because the last continent proved to be really inhospitable. The freezing wind and the howling snowstorm caused the place to be really intolerably cold. It was nearly unbearable to be in.
It was a good thing that just for him, the Matriarchs got their own powers to use against this blasted cold. It was a good thing given the fact that the temperature felt like it was a hundred below zeros.
Even with that extra layer and good clothes, they couldn't withstand it.
And people shoved over thousand of valuta to visit this desert of ice and snow? The Hacker Leader really found that some people are really fucking dumb.
"Are you sure that we are going the right way?" Oyuki asked while the leader turned to his Nanites. Nearly all sorts of technology were out to be used. One was hopelessly lost here if they tried to survive here.
"From what I get yes. There is a heat source." Matthijs shouted back at the War Divas who followed behind him.
The old man shivered in the freezing cold that he experienced. He hoped they were right. If not, their bodies would join the many who fell here. There would be no funeral and no one would come to visit. A dreadful place to lay one's head.
Well, they would be there forever.
If he was sure about it, Matthijs guessed this would be the perfect hiding spot for a being that couldn't feel pain or fatigue. He had always assumed that it was something that was hidden here.
He heard his grandfather talk about it often. Hubertus had told him when he was just a child. It all seemed so long ago. He heard the stories and those memories kept him warm when he marched through the snow.
Not even the thought of taking a glove to sense the direction. He relied on his Nanites. Of course, it had to make sense that the Reiki was sentient.
Hubertus was much like his grandson. He found love after being spurned by his first. With all love for irony that all Orlejov's shared, Matthijs found it displeasing that Hubertus fell in love with Shina, Miyuki's mother. Hubertus had always felt something in him.
A certain presence around the Reiki. And now, he would find it. Then something appeared in front of them. Some sort of cave. Now, Matthijs removed his glove and he could feel the biting cold surrounding it.
Jin, Tsukiko, and Ayaka had caught up with him as he stood before the cave.
"I hope you all are ready to fight. Because this isn't going to be an easy battle." The shivers going down their spines weren't because of the cold. Whatever was inside there, wasn't normal either.
The five had walked through the cave and what they saw was something they had never witnessed before. It was a deep cavern but yet, it wasn't dark. The fire was going through it and all five could feel the heat coming through. Matthijs was spearheading in the group while the Divas held back. They would let him do this. Eventually, the cavern widened and it showed the being there.
Oyuki had always thought of a Devil or Satan like some horned beasts in the middle of a fire. If she was being honest, the source of the Reiki was just that.
"Be easy, Oyuki. You have us with you." The feeling of Dyna was like a heavy cloak on her body.
A great throne showed the body of a Devil. Tsukiko wondered how skulls ended up here but she didn't have to wonder about that. If this being was contracted with the Orimura, it was no wonder.
Horns came from the beasts, several ones that showed the idea of a Devil. Its hands or whatever they were, were resting on the throne. The fire was engulfing the place but it wasn't the thing that shocked the Divas so much.
Ayaka noticed that the eyes in the middle of the skull were the most fearsome thing.
"You are not alone." The water was cooling Ayaka down. Ayaka remembered the feeling of Agul. It was also protecting her from the heat.
"So you have finally found me. War Divas, Satan. Although I would say that name is unfitting for a human being. Even one in liege with the Orimura.
The Divas gulped when they heard it speak. The booming voice echoed over the place. All four women saw the being raising himself from his seat.
"I take you must be the source of their power? You are clearly showing off a bit. Compensating much?" Matthijs asked with a daring grin. He couldn't read the beast but for him, that didn't matter. They were here to destroy this.
"I see that you have not changed your ways. Tatsuya had always informed of you, Matthijs Orlejov."
That wasn't a surprise for the Hacker leader.
"He also told me about the four here before me. Tsukiko Sarashiki, Jin Lee, Oyuki Mayuzumi and Ayaka Kojiro. The so-called four War Divas."
He looked over them with a certain amusement. Like they were nothing more but toys for his entertainment.
"You seem to know our names. What else do you know?" Jin asked while she could feel the reassuring feeling of her partner. Of course, like many others who faced the Orimura, fear wasn't an unfamiliar emotion. But there was a difference now.
This was the source of their power. Of how they controlled the world.
"About your partners. About those beings. I suppose that I should go on."
Then he remembered something else. A plan that happened nearly decades ago. He had found a sick pleasure hearing that story. The images that were delivered had given him so much great release.
"Well, you know all things I guess. I doubt that we have to tell you why we are here." Matthijs asked the being in front of him. He hadn't realized that the term monster was something that he had called was ever so fitting.
"Oh, I should maybe tell you something else. That whole idea of Izanagi choosing his sisters over you all." A deep booming chuckle escaped Zyreus.
"That was my idea."
"What?" Tsukiko asked while the rest of the Divas heard him speak.
"I need those fools to be controlled. Foreign powers such as yourself would only prove to be a hindrance."
Zyreus looked over the hurt that he was giving the Sarashiki matriarch. Even after so long, she still loved Tatsuya. And from their faces, the same could be said about the rest of the Divas.
"I just mentioned it to Tatsuya. He did the same eons ago. He planted the idea in the head of his daughters. I just continued to push their love for Izanagi to the degrees that I wanted." Zyreus laid his mighty head back and remembered something.
"Funnily enough, I didn't need to do the same thing for him. He always would take his sisters over you."
Mathijs cursed inwardly. He was already breaking them down without even trying. Luckily, he didn't need to do that.
"Get a hold of yourselves!" The four Giants shouted loudly enough for Zyreus and Matthijs to hear.
"What's done is done." Agul shouted at Ayaka. She could feel the embrace of the water.
"You can't change the past." Gaia hoped that she could heal Tsukiko. The image of her daughters was forced into her head.
"Don't look back!" Tiga asked of Jin. "It hurts but you have to look to the future."
"Because if you let him break you now, there won't be a future." Dyna hoped that Oyuki would listen to them.
The Four Divas had one choice. Let their partners take over or fight this out themselves.
This thing took away their future with Izanagi.
All four would make him pay for that.
Their auras began to flare up and Matthijs was glad that those Giants were there to help him.
He infused his own aura to match theirs.
The being just looked like it could wipe them away with a sway of his hand. Yet, for none of them, they couldn't let fear show.
"I know why you are here. And I will tell you that it will horribly fail! You will fall!" Luckily for them, such a corny line was enough warning for all five to activate their energy.
It was a good thing they did because it stopped the blast coming from Zyreus.
"Disperse!" Ayaka shouted. None of them protested as Tsukiko stood back. She had been training with her power and she worked on an idea that she had for a while. Placing her hands on the ground, she began to concentrate.
"We really should have thought about a strategy!" Matthijs shouted as he copied her moves. Unlike her, he could stop the attack of Zyreus.
"We have one. Staying alive!" Jin shouted back to him as she used her own aura. Matthijs had a fairly good idea of what they could as their aura as they dubbed it was meant as some sort of energy. It was like the blasts just kept coming up.
Matthijs was tanking them as he felt the blows. The viciousness that was transpiring was incredible and horrible. He would have admired the power if it wasn't coming from such a horrible thing. The War Divas meanwhile used their lifetime experience to avoid attacks and sending blasts themselves.
Zyreus was putting himself straight as two swords came from the side. The being had copied many fighters throughout the years. Many wielded two swords at the same time. Vikings, pirates, samurai.
No wonder he chose this. Zyreus deflected the spells or sent them back to the sender. His biggest focus was on Matthijs who was mostly used to his powers. Who could fight back the best.
Inwardly, the being cursed his mind out as he knew that his normal power wouldn't work. Hollow minds were easy enough to control, making fights much easier as he didn't have to waste too much time fighting back on those puny humans.
Yet, those five were able to deflect it. It was an inconvenience. A nuisance. Not that it would matter for them. He would bring them down and destroy them.
"Divas, if you got an idea, now would be the time!" Matthijs yelled to them and Lee nodded at him. She focused her powers. Memories were suppressed and she knew what Tiga had in mind. He was something that could stop their attacks. Using a sword, she leaped up. The cavern might have been made like a throne hall but it was easy enough for her to fight back against him.
She leaped from the rocks and her swipes were aimed at Zyreus. It wasn't an issue for him to block the attacks. With a smirk, Lee got closer to him. Was she trying to match his powers? Foolish mortal.
"Tiga, now!" The shout came as a surprise as her body was engulfed in the aura. It was enough for Zyreus to see the intent. Yet, nothing could be done to stop the attack. It hit the monster right on the swords. It was like a chemical reaction. The darkness was met with light.
"Damn you, Lee!" The Chinese Diva jumped back while she grinned. It gave Matthijs an opening. And he was done with taking the beating. So when his body was fused with his Nanites, it was aimed right at the monster.
"Heads-up!" With a powerful kick, Matthijs smashed into Zyreus. The being was staggered.
"My Giant is tied to Light. I hope you don't mind this!" In retaliation, Zyreus grabbed two pillars and threw them at the Divas. Jin smirked as she used her sword on them. Cutting them in half was all too easy.
But the incoming fist was something she couldn't stop. She was flung back right against the wall.
"Jin!" They couldn't be worried about her. Before Zyreus could finish the job, Tsukiko had made her own spell work.
"Perhaps, this will make things more difficult for you." She was now finally ready to launch her attack. The field was put between the monster who could only glare at her. She had suffered under the powers. Yet, nothing was going to stop him! He wasn't going to be taken down by those puny humans.
He who had lived through millennia. Who had seen the dawn of this world. Zyreus would not be destroyed by those four women.
"That is taking care of his strength!" Oyuki knew that they weren't done just yet. It was just getting worse if she could be honest. Matthijs looked over and found that with his distraction, he could stabilize Jin.
She wasn't going anywhere. And then he noticed. This place was taxing on them. In a normal fight, they had done damage but here, this place. This monster was doing more damage on them than he would have guessed.
"I can feel energy rushing in." After placing his hands to make a barrier on Jin, he could see that Zyreus's body was engulfed in the flames. This guy was tapping into the heat of the planet. Pretty smart thinking on their part. Yet, it wasn't the time to admire his foe. He had to figure out a way to stop that.
Luckily for him, Oyuki had figured that little news out as well. So it came up to her. She nodded to Tsukiko who was using her speed to distract him while Ayaka was doing the same. Their attacks were light and not as infused with their aura as the Russian's beauty previous hit.
Zyreus couldn't believe how annoying they were. But when he focused on one, the other attacked him. It wasn't enough to ignore. His muscles forced him to focus on them. Oyuki looked at the magma pit underneath. Now, it was her turn to act.
Racing from one end to the next, she cut past Zyreus who had no way to defend himself against the attacks. Mainly because his focus lay somewhere else.
For such an almighty being, it was nearly too easy. Until Oyuki noticed the strain on her body. They had all unwittingly been tapping into their partner's powers and despite all things, they weren't used to that strain.
But when Yukiko had crossed the attacks one more time, she raced down and only then Zyreus noticed her.
A moment too late as he couldn't fight back the Earth that was encapsulating his body.
"You little pest. I'll tear your arms and legs off before I devour you!" Oyuki just bowed to him while she gave him one charming smile as she felt the mocking. Then she felt the hit of her body. She fell back on the floor. Oh, this was just rich. What were they going to do now?
Matthijs shared a look with Ayaka. The purple-haired beauty nodded to him. She knew her powers and she focused on her body. The powers on the sword. She knew exactly what the opposite of fire was. Water.
And what did she control?
Water. She breathed in and out. Her body was engulfed with the liquid. Snow from the storm outside was transformed into water. It got channeled through the cave and from her two sides came a vast amount of the liquid.
Zyreus looked up in horror as the water channeled through, just got aimed at him and it cooled down the fire that was giving him his power.
"That's all I can do!" Ayaka shouted as she too collapsed.
"Don't worry. I can take it from here!" Matthijs concentrated. His own powers now were enough to destroy Zyreus.
"No, stop! Don't you understand! I'm the only thing controlling the Orimura. With me gone, you'll plunge the world into eternal chaos."
Matthijs let the Nanites control his body and they began to surge around him.
"You think I'd believe such horseshit? And what do you think we are going to do when we're done with you?"
Propelling his body, Matthijs raced through the place, all while charging himself with the power that he required. Even with the attack that Zyreus was throwing his way, Matthijs just punched through them like it was nothing.
His blade came out and charged with the energy was aimed at the head of Zyreus. Like a Devil slaying another Devil, his Nanites gave him the look of one and a shadow of his own punched through the hole of Zyreus.
For a second, the being that lived for eons could feel pain, shock, and fear. Then he felt a warm liquid, running next to his head.
"Curse you. Curse all of you into eternity." Zyreus simply said as his body fell down.
"We'll see each other again, Zyreus. Of that, you can count on." Matthijs said while he eyed the four War Divas. All four of them had collapsed during the fight. They weren't in danger but all of their bodies were down for the count.
"Just great." He simply muttered. He summoned four claws from his back and lifted the women up, gently but firmly. They would need a long time to recover. Matthijs lifted them all up from their place. At least, traveling back to the station would be a lot easier.
Checking his watch, Matthijs realized that in five weeks, Ichika would receive the Reiki. He knew that even with the source destroyed, Tatsuya had plenty to go around and he could easily give enough powers to his grandchildren.
This was just one part done. Now, they would need to do more to maybe have a snowball chance in hell of defeating the Orimura.
But one thing at the time, first, he needed to travel away from his horrible place back to the civilized world. Flying out of the cave, Matthijs surged his remaining power to fly through it. He thanked the amount of stuff those little machines could do.
He would go from a place that was easily forty degrees Celsius to outside where it was fifty degrees below. That would be unpleasant. Even for him.
Scene skip
In Japan, there were five women and two men who could feel shivers going down their spine.
One such woman was dressed in a yellow kimono. Her evil red eyes were shining through the night. Her body had been something many a man (and some women) dreamed of. Her body was well developed. She could feel something in her body.
Izanami shook her head. She went back to nursing Ichika and Madoka. Why her father was so involved, she would never know. But she knew better than to go against him. Strong as she was, she knew better than to cross her father.
Another woman, Shizuka Orimura, woke up from the feeling. Her light green hair was showing the signs of bed head. Which wasn't unusual given the fact that she nearly slept her entire life. But yet, the feeling didn't leave her. She could feel the fear. Something she hadn't felt in a long time. Yet, she refused to talk to her sisters.
In a lab, in the castle, Minazuki Orimura had been experimenting. The poor bastard tied up in a chair had managed to stay through most poisons. Yet, when the last one was admonished, this man wanted nothing more but to die.
The red eyes burned at him and her red hair made her look like a Devil.
"Hm, what is this?" Her latest experiment felt his body tensing up one last time before it finally gave out. Almost with relief, he closed his eyes forever.
She could feel the fear seeping in. Like something was missing.
The last Matriarch was feeling it as well. Shiori could have been described as the sanest of them but that was taking a stretch nearly a country-wide. She had the same figure as her sister, inherited from their mother. Long blonde hair, that covered the right side of her face. She felt something in her body. A shiver.
In her room, she had been reading. Then her eyes went to something. A broken hidden blade. Something that she received from Erwin when they were younger.
Before everything came crashing down.
The mother of these women was Miyuki. She had been with her son, taking care of him as he relapsed. Her black hair was inherited by some of her children. Miyuki felt the shiver while she could feel think of it. Her life was one filled with tragedy. Paradoxes and abnormalities were something that she grew used to.
On her lap, laid a man. Black, short hair, and dressed into a black kimono, Izanagi laid down on his mother. His eyes met hers. They shared the same Reiki. Junsuina Reiki. Yet, their eyes lay on the last man.
The real boss of the Orimura.
Tatsuya was tall with a strong body. His dark eyes were glaring around while he sat back in his seat. His eyes were fixed on the sky where the sun was setting.
'You did it, you mad bastard.'
This is a bit shorter compared to the first chapter but it's what it is. I started the chapter by flying to Turkey on an airplane and I finished this at the swimming pool at the hotel. The water inside the pool is a bit too chilly to my honest liking. And I wanted to finish this first.
Most likely, this will be updated after Two Reasons to come home. I'd like to keep things in order. So it does mean we're good on schedule. I'm glad about how things worked out in this chapter.
I'll see you all on the next chapter of this or in the meantime, check out my other works. I got 49 other fics, there has to be something to your liking.
Saluut.