Chapter 7: The Human and Yokai Heart of the Serpent
"Basically, I'm a servant of Snake King Kaira, a noble yokai from the Izana tribe," Shichimi explained, eyes wandering around in slight hesitation. "He was framed for a crime he didn't commit, so I broke him out."
"Crime he didn't commit," Jibanyan remarked. "Sounds all a bit too familiar. Though I didn't know there was another family of nobles, thought it was the Mikado yokai in charge."
"And you'd be right," Whisper informed, stroking his non-existent chin. "However, there is a second family of nobility known as the Izana Snake Kings, or just Izana tribe for short, much like how Mikado yokai are better known as the Enma Mikado Kings."
"Yeah, the Izana aren't exactly in charge," Shichimi added into the conversation, but rubbing the back of his head. "However, I've noticed something...something wasn't right..."
"Something wasn't right?" Touma asked, Shichimi nodding to confirm.
"It's hard to explain, but there was like...a strange aura around him, one I can't really confirm," Shichimi kept going, looking uneasy in thought. "The energy seemed to beat in synchronization with his heart..."
"Where did you see Kaira go?" Natsume asked, Shichimi shrugging.
"Beats me, but there's one place we might have to go for clues," Shichimi stated, starting to stand up. He rummaged for something in his pockets, handing it to his Golden Eagle companion, Yama.
"Yama, take these three to the mansion that belongs to the Izana family in the yokai world, located in the Scaleback Ridge Yomakai," Shichimi informed his eagle friend, giving him a strange train card. While a normal eagle, Yama seemed to be intelligent enough to understand the instructions clearly to take the card into his beak and drop it over to Natsume, staying by the girl's side.
"Usually I can teleport to that yomakai in an emergency, but with a group as big as yours, you're going to have to take a train there," Shichimi informed, starting to look like he was about to leave. Akinori put his foot down.
"Wait!" Akinori stammered, cutting the snake's leave short. "You aren't coming with us?"
"I would, but there's something you might've picked up on," Shichimi told, holding up Sugar in his arms. "Namely, I'm a dad."
"That's right, you should take time to take care of Sugar," Natsume reassured, letting Shichimi be on his way. "She's missed you a lot."
"Chippu!" Sugar cooed, rasing her tiny hand to grasp onto Natsume's finger briefly. She was too young to have an arc manifest yet, but she liked the human girl, hoping to play with her again sometime.
"If the going gets tough, don't hesitate to use my arc," Shichimi finished, starting to finally be on his way. "Though uh, not now, busy for the rest of the day."
With that, Shichimi and Sugar were on their ways back to rest and relax, leaving everyone else to figure out a plan to what to do next.
"Where are we going to find a yokai train station?" Touma pondered, not having to wait long for an answer as Yama started taking up to the air again, guiding the group.
"Looyks lyke we're gonna' haft to be followin' that bird for ansaws," Cait Sith pointed out with a shrug.
The group consisting of both humans and yokai had no choice but to pursue in the direction of the large bird, wondering where it could lead. Could it be to a mystical yokai train station? A hidden place only known by the spirits?
Where they were lead to….Was the Sakura Momotachi Station, to he confusion of everyone. Was a normal train really going to get everyone to the specific location in the yokai world?
"Uhhh, Yama, I don't think this is a train station that I'd think the yokai world would use..." Natsume pointed out, reluctantly holding the train card in a shrug. Yama took the card into his beak, flying through and scanning the card.
Upon scanning the card, the scenery transformed and shifted to something that looked far more supernatural and a spectral spectacle to behold. Things seemed to be more dark, but highlighted with bright colors to not seem so dreary. Pulling into the station was a train that was very much something belonging to the yokai world; a large red train that looked like a fearsome oni, yet had a strange inviting aura to it.
"This is how yokai get around?" Touma asked, Whisper giving a bit of a nod.
"Yes, it's one of many ways, I haven't taken such a train myself in a long time," Whisper stated, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I had come to the human world long before the barrier had fallen, as I'm a war criminal, but I'm sure you don't want to hear that story, now would you?"
"You're a war criminal?" Cu Sith asked, his ears perking up not in excitement but rather with tension and unease. A low growling could be hears from the normally docile pup. "I'm still sniffing out for a criminal, so I hope you aren't the one!"
"Ehh aye doub' et," Cait Sith offered with a shrug. "Crimm'als aren't usua'y so well dress' an' aye don' tink ol' fancee soft serv' 'ere stol the Elda Bri' Li' Mirra"
Without any further comments from anyone else, everyone started to board the mysterious train. It was their ticket to the yokai world, hopefully to figure things out regarding Shichimi's boss…
The sounds of rubble and glass shattering filled throughout the air. Various guards of all sorts of yokai attempted in vain to stop a streak of blue, but it was clear they were far too fast, far too unmerciful. Even powerful guards were swatted down like flies, as the only thing to beat in the blue streak's heart was nothing but wrath.
"Enma..." Those were the only words spoken by Kaira. His voice seemed normal, but had an air to it that made things seem off.
"Y-Y-Your majesty!" A fearful voice from a feline practically shaking in their cyan samurai armor shouted, hurriedly running to a large room that had a desk and a very large, very elaborate throne.
Sitting in the throne was a great king with golden spikey hair and ruddy skin, dressed in red and gold. His amber eyes looked in shock to the dark blue cat, who scurried over in fear.
"What's exactly wrong, Bushinyan?" The great king asked, Bushinyan loudly catching his breath.
"Great King Enma...You see...He's...That guy is…." Bushinyan tried to explain, only for the streak of blue to loudly open the doors into the throne room.
The blue haired man let out a long laugh, loud enough that echoed through the whole room.
"Enma! I've found you at long last!" The laughing man shouted, seeming to find victory.
"Kaira..." Great King Enma quietly spoke to himself, painted with a serious look. Bushinyan looked over for a moment, eyeing a nearby window.
"I'm out of here! I'm not dealing with that guy! Not now, not ever!" Bushinyan yelped, breaking a nearby window with his blade and then jumping out, running for the hills.
"Even your own guards know they're dead meat if they mess with the true king of the yokai world," Kaira spoke, pointing his blade to Great King Enma. "Now, I'd recommend giving up your throne if you don't want to perish yourself!"
"Kaira...My friend, what's gotten into you?" Great King Enma asked, wanting to know what was wrong. Something felt wrong. Something felt off.
"Are you a fool?" Kaira began to respond with a hiss in his tone, fitting for the serpent king. "I want to rule the yokai world, as well as the human world! It's in my blood, it's in my flesh! Now hand over the throne!"
Great King Enma was silent for a moment. He knew Kaira grew up rather roughly in his youth, but did it really amount to this? All this wrath? It was understandable that Kaira would feel strong negative emotions for his oppression as a Hanyou, a half human, half yokai, did it really amount to this? So much raw, blind anger and rage….
But nevertheless, he didn't have much of a choice. Concentrating his spiritual energy, he summoned forth a fiery red blade, embers sparking as it was being summoned. The great king held it, looking determined.
"If it's the throne you want, then you're going to have to beat me for it!" Great King Enma exclaimed very loudly, charging in at Kaira.
Sparks flew at their blades of crimson and cobalt clashed, striking with determination in one, and anger in another.
The two were truly equals, when Kaira got a strike in, Enma would strike back. Their clash kept on going, with several strikes and slashes between the two kings. Being an even match, nothing seemed to be ready to turn the tides, at least not yet…
After a brisk train ride and a bit of a walk to a heavily wooded area of the yokai world thanks to the guidance of the eagle Yama, the group found themselves in front of a mansion. It looked a bit worn down, but livable and nice. Nowhere near as abandoned and old as the mansion Natsume befriended Pixie in.
"This seems to be the place," Akinori stated, slowly starting to approach the doors of the run down building. However, as expected, the main doors were tightly locked shut. Natsume and Touma tried their luck as well, but alas, it didn't seem to work for either of them.
"Maybe there's a key somewhere..." Natsume began, looking under and over anything that could be hiding a key. Bushes, doormats, anything that could hide the key inside. Touma looked at the situation, seeming to click with an idea.
"I think I have a good solution to this," Touma began, hovering his hand over the Ogre Watch, starting to hold onto the dial. Akinori's eyes widened as the boy scrambled in a panic.
"No, not yet! That could be too dangerous!" Akinori responded, quickly standing in front of the door and hastily making a star symbol with his index finger. With a swift motion, the charge of yoki energy was able to break open the door.
"Heh, works every time!" Akinori stated with confidence, leading the way into the large mansion.
Upon entering, it was easy to see that the interior was nicely kept, seeming to have not suffered from aging as bad as it did on the outside. Naturally, the lights were off, but it seemed to be bright just enough to see rather clearly, yet dim enough that anything could be hiding in the shadows.
The foyer had two large snake statues in front of a large flight of stairs to block them off, seeming to twist and bind despite being made of solid marble. Their eyes were like small rubies and sapphires, and their foreheads decorated with a strange gold symbol.
While the two boys were looking for clues within the main halls, Natsume was drawn to the statues of the snakes, slowly approaching them. Something about them radiated a tempting energy to touch their heads, even if it seemed like something was amiss.
But regardless, Natsume touched the head of the snake with the sapphire eyes. Both of the statues had their eyes glow and their jaws open, a trapdoor swiftly opening under Natsume without her having any time to react.
"W-Waaah!" Natsume yelped, falling down.
"Natsume!" Akinori and Touma shouted, trying to run into the direction of Natsume, but the trapdoor shut closed faster than they could get to her. This place was truly mysterious, and very dangerous...Was this the right place to find answers, or was it all just a trick?
Thankfully for Natsume, the trapdoor didn't seem to be too much of a great fall, as within moments she was within another room. It seemed to be a lower floor, completely windowless, but bright enough to see around, despite it being a lot more dis-repaired. Dusty portraits of serpentine yokai were on the walls, depicted with fine jewelry and attire of a vaguely Indian decent.
At the end of the hallway, there was a final portrait, depicting a beautiful snake woman with violet hair neatly kept with golden jewels and elegant yet warm ruby red eyes. Her tail was a pearl white with cobalt patterns on it, glistening gently.
In front of the portrait was a small altar with a box. It had the same symbol as were on the statue's heads, so it was perhaps a family crest.
"Should I really open something with this seal on it again…?" Natsume wondered to herself. She wanted to fight against her curiosity, but it was proving to be quite a challenge.
Natsume soon caught eye of something under the box, a small note. It was a bit dusty, but very much readable in clear, fine penmanship.
To whoever finds this, my dear lover Karou, my beautiful son Kaira, please don't hesitate to open this box. It'll tell you all you must know and what to do in case of That Fiend…The fiend that has plagued our family for eons…
"So this must be related to Kaira..." Natsume spoke to herself, opening the box without any further hesitation.
Having finished the letter, a strange aura could be seen, one that while not made of technology, had a mystical energy that allowed Natsume to see visions from long ago... Told in a way like one would when telling a tale of celestial spirits, or treasures held behind ancient doors...
Things started in a time long before history could be recorded accurately. It was fuzzy and vague, the sky being plunged in absolute darkness, and several glaring eyes peering among the dark skies. Until finally, a strong light pierced through the dark shadow, letting the sky be free and clear once more.
However, five streaks of darkness and a single streak of light flew all across the sky, going to different locations far from one another. It took a bit more time, but eventually, they did all land...
One of the shadowy streaks landed in a woodland area near a peaceful village, the darkness streak taking the form of well, something. It was hard to tell among the aged vision of a rising sun, but it radiated with wrath and anger, seeming to have fangs and claws that wanted nothing more than to destroy.
And destroy the dark shadow did, taking the flesh from both an innocent yokai and human and twisting it to it's liking, fueled by both of their inner anger and erasing their previous identities by consuming their soul hearts. Such a being terrorized and shredded those that dared to come into it's path, soon earning a name by the locals.
That being the name of Bakasura.
Bakasura kept on destroying, the villagers not daring to enter the woods in fear of the demon.
One day brought hope, as one night on a full moon, three travelers arrived, all brothers with serpentine features and traits. They were known as the Izana Snake Brothers, and they were passing through due being exiled by a cruel ruler known as Oni Queen Shuka.
Upon hearing the plights, the village sympathized with the brothers, providing them with food and shelter. In passing, the three heard about the foul being known in Bakasura.
The eldest of the brothers, Makotoma, rallied his brothers and the village with charisma to vanquish the demon.
Kyoufu, the middle of the brothers, had fared against Shuka's army many times, only being bested by only her finest knights, so he said he would lead the charge with his strength.
Finally the youngest brother, Soragane, would devise a plan to weaken Bakasura with his intellect and carefully planned strength from afar.
With the combined efforts of the brothers, Bakasura did finally fall at the hands of the brother's charisma, strength, and wisdom. First being struck by an arrow from Soragane into his weak point, then by Kyoufu using his raw strength to lead a charge, then when it seemed like Kyofu was weakened, Makotoma charged in and landed the finishing strike.
Peace was graced upon the long terrorized village at long last.
Such a victory, however, came at a price. Bakasura's spirit could not be truly defeated, so the being was sealed into a gemstone by the effort of the brothers, setting it up with a specific seal.
"The only way this foul demon could ever awaken is if one of human and yokai blood were to be born into the Izana family" was the binding given to the gemstone.
So eons passed, the wrathful being sealed away for what seemed like all of time.
With such a long era of peace, it was easy to forget such a thing. It was eventually assumed that the demon had been completely vanquished by being turned into a gemstone, as peace had been a thing for so long.
As a queen of the Izana family in more modern times, Paradmavati, did what the ancient brothers feared, but completely unaware. Her heart was captivated by a human man by the name of Karou. The two fell in deep love, Karou being completely unaware of Paradmavati's spectral serpentine origins. She had given him a locket she made with a particular gem found in her family's treasury, but little did she know this was the very gemstone containing the wrathful demon's soul...
One day, Paradmavati retreated back into the Yokai World without warning, as now she had a clutch of five eggs to take care of.
Day in and day out, the snake queen kept her eggs warm with the endless compassion in her heart. After all, a yokai could only hatch from their egg if they were shown a great amount of love, and Paradmavati knew that better than anyone. She was determined that even after they hatched, she would keep loving her children very much, moreso than she did prior.
But, the spinners of the threads of fate had a differing plan in mind. Perhaps the fate that had the power to end lives went crazy, or perhaps knew the sin Paradmavati unknowingly committed.
As when Paradmavati's children hatched, one by one they each turned out to be empty. Nothing inside, not a single trace of life was left within in those hollowed, shattered shells. Souls she had hoped to raise with only the truest love and affection were completely gone, taken away from the serpent queen.
Completely heartbroken Paradmavati was as she watched one by one each of her eggs hatch completely empty with nothing inside. By the fourth one, the poor queen could not bear to look at such a sight anymore. In only mere moments, did someone full of so much joy and love, become someone who could only feel sadness and heartbreak.
Was it pathetic that she wanted to spread love and joy to a new generation? did she deserve to be happy? she kept on thinking plenty to herself.
However, the final egg provided some hope. As there was something inside, actual life! Slowly the final egg hatched out, struggling to break free. The life within was a charming blue haired humanoid with serpentine features.
Poor thing could barely breathe, barely move, struggling to even be alive, but trying his hardest.
But, his mother Paradmavati, loved him so dearly anyways. She was overjoyed she was at least given one chance, one child.
The queen named her boy Kaira. Even if it was a name she saw in a book, it meant lovely things like charming, attractive, and delightful, which were things she knew Kaira would be one day. She would make sure he was loved and he knew that fact.
Even if that came at the cost of her own life.
As you see, Kaira's struggles to live were much more severe than just being a newborn yokai. Because of his mixed yokai and human heritage, his almost entirely yokai soul heart and his mostly human body constantly conflicted with one another, resulting in the poor child only having less than half his soul heart, making it a true challenge to simply live.
Upon hearing such news about her newborn child, Paradmavati was speechless, but knew she had to make a major sacrifice. She would be willing to give up major portions of her soul heart, severely cutting her life, to make sure Kaira could live a happy, fulfilling life.
Yokai that were brought in for their knowledge of human biology and yokai mythology tried to fight against her words, believing that it would not be worth it and that Paradmavati was just hysterical. But she kept fighting, insisting with her heart it was the absolute right thing to do, as parts of her heart soul would be a perfect match for Kaira. He was her child, after all.
And give up parts of her soul heart Paradmavati did. She would not live long enough to see past Kaira's 15th birthday, but it was a joyous time even if it was short. Even if she passed on, she had faith in her son to be a good king of the Izana family.
Life could be hard at times, and Kaira grew up facing many hard things because of his heritage, but she didn't doubt that the compassion from her soul heart would help her son.
Natsume could only stand in silence for a few moments after what she had witnessed. It was such a long tale, but one that made sense, one full of happiness and tragedy. Understanding this, an item within the box made itself apparent.
Popping out was a tablet that was inscribed with ancient runes, but when Natsume tried to grab it, only for a shockwave to reject her. It wasn't that painful, probably only as much as getting a small sting of static electricity, but it kept persisting when Natsume kept trying to grab it.
"Is...Is this thing made of static electricity or something?" Natsume wondered, feeling a bit confused about all this. She heard the story, didn't this mean she could get the ancient McGuffin or whatever?
"Natsume!" A voice could be heard with a shout, as light started to pour into the old chamber. Poking through was the likes of Akinori, accompanied by Jibanyan in his Shadowside form and the Genma Benkei. The trio jumped down, quickly coming to the aid of Natsume.
"What happened here?" Touma asked, having switched out of the Yokai Watch Ogre and letting Benkei rest one more.
"Long story, I witnessed a pretty crazy story, and there's a tablet I think is vital but..." Natsume began, demonstrating the fact she couldn't grab the tablet. Jibanyan stepped up without another word, effortlessly grabbing it in his much taller Shadowside form.
"Dunno what the problem was," Jibanyan quipped, holding the tablet as he went back into his Lightside form. He held out the tablet and squinted his feline eyes a bit.
"Let me see if I can read this thing," Jibanyan added, grabbing into his haramaki to get a pair of glasses to more clearly see the ancient inscribing. The feline was silent for a moment. "...Oh wait I can't read."
"Careful with such delicate stonework!" Whisper came floating in, gently taking the stone tablet to look it over. "We wouldn't want to break such a delicate artifact that isn't ours!"
"Do you think you can crack the code, Whisper?" Natsume questioned, Whisper giving a nod.
"Of course, it's what butlers do best!" Whisper cheerfully responded, trying to scan the runes for translation with his Y-Pad. Slowly the white ghost's face became more and more uneasy and worried, the translating apps seeming to come up with errors.
"...Okay, I'll admit, 'ancient mystical tablet decoding' is something I need to work on in my butler agenda," Whisper admitted defeated, but still choosing to hold onto the tablet anyways.
"Alright, let me see if I can-" Akinori tried to say, only to be given the same kind of shocks Natsume gotten. "Yeouch! What's with that thing?"
"Maybe it's a yokai only thing?" Touma suggested into the matter.
"Guess you're right, so that marks out any humans who might know about yokai..." Natsume concluded.
"If no human can read it, guess our best bet is to just straight up go to the big man himself," Jibanyan suggested, the group being surprised. "Even if I feel a bit ehh on the kid, Enma should absolutely be able to crack the code."
"Are you crazy!?" Whisper yelled in shock. "We can't just, waltz on in like we own the place! Because we don't for starters, and we would have to make an appointment, right!?"
"Listen, I'm sure that stone tablet has something important," Jibanyan added to his stance. "You don't just give a long mystic presentation and some ancient device, only for it to not be connected to something big and dramatic like how to prevent the incineration of life itself."
"So how are we going to get there?" Natsume asked, Jibanyan folding his arms a bit.
"There's this guy that I've heard things about…" Jibanyan answered back, getting everyone out of the basement and leading the way out.
It was a bit of a brisk walk, but Jibanyan talked with a few mirror like yokai that lead them to one of the many, many cities in the yokai world. It was a bit tricky to understand, but the red cat went up to a building that read "Yomakai Transportation Co. Main Office" in big, bold letters.
"Jiba-nyaaaaan~!" A loud, absolutely wild voice greeted, a figure spinning and landing in front of the red cat yokai with claws ready.
This strange, eccentric yokai took the form of a fluffy yet mangy looking calico cat yokai, wearing an elegant kimono that had been worn a bit. Her fur was mostly white, but her paws were black and she had splotches of orange throughout. Half of her face was covered with a Hannya mask, positioned to the side.
"Today is the day! The day we duel, I've heard all the myths and legends, now let's-" The Hannya mask donning cat attempted with her speech, Jibanyan giving a sigh and shaking her head.
"Hannyan, not today, we're all kinda in a pinch since we gotta get to Enma's place and fast. Got any one of your buses or cabs or somethin?" Jibanyan tried to explain.
"Eh? You just want a ride? Like a normal ol' customer?" Hannyan responded, her sharp, jagged fangs gaping open in disbelief. Her face soon scrunched back up.
"Heck no! Is that anything like you to refuse a fight? A good scuffle?" Hannyan tried to reason with Jibanyan, Whisper tapping on the red cat's shoulder.
"Are you certain she isn't actually a gang member and this is just a front?" Whisper asked very concerned. Hannyan took a step back to notice the others with the red feline.
"Shoot, you got kids with you? I can't do business like this, but I'll make a deal," Hannyan decided to comply with. "I'll hail the best bus I got and send your pals over to Enma's, but you gotta stay here and fight me one on one, got it?"
"Jibanyan..." Natsume tried to speak, Jibanyan moving his paw to the side to halt the teen girl from going much further.
"It's fine, I accept your deal," Jibanyan accepted, Hannyan giving a large toothy grin.
"Excellent, Tres Bien, Good!" Hannyan concluded, getting out her cellphone and sending a message. "Your ride will be here shortly, now let's rumble, Jiba-nyaaaaan!"
The trio of teens and Whisper quietly headed outside to wait for their ride. Seemed Cait Sith and Cu Sith might've tried to keep their eyes on Junior elsewhere. At least Natsume always had their arks just in case the situation was needed.
"...Just...who is that lady?" Touma asked, Whisper offering a shrug.
"She seems to be the head of Yomakai Transportation Co, one of the biggest networks of bus and taxi based transportation in all of the Yokai World," Whisper informed, looking at an article on his Y-Pad. "Despite her….eccentric behaviors, she's a respected, intelligent, and refined businesswoman. How Jibanyan heard of her is anyone's guess..."
Within moments, a small bus pulled up in front of the office. The doors opened, revealing quite the nicely kept interior that was made of high quality. A run down school bus this was not, this was high class stuff. The driver floated down, wearing a fine tuxedo.
"Thank you for using Yomakai Transportation Co, it's a pleasure to serve you all," The bus driver got out and greeted, letting everyone in on the bus with a very refined and charismatic flair to him.
For how wild Hannyan was, she really did know how to have top notch customer service. It seemed it would only be a matter of time before everyone arrived to Enma's palace to see what the deal was on that stone tablet...
The battle between the two kings raged on, still being at a stalemate. The two seemed to be a bit more worn down.
Kaira gave a large grin on his face, starting to speak among a break in their fight.
"As the old legend goes, the sun and the moon were evenly matched, being both great and noble warriors from opposing sides that deeply hated one another," Kaira began with his speech. "However, ultimately, the moon's mighty bow fell down and killed the sun."
"But didn't the earth plunge into despair and darkness, the moon swearing to never shoot their bow ever again after being overcome with so much despair?" Great King Enma questioned his old friend's speech. It was concerning what had gotten into Kaira recently...Was this just his true nature?
"Are you saying a world plunged into darkness is not a good thing?" Kaira hissed back harshly, not seeming to care about what Great King Enma had to say in return. "I will make sure history is truly repeated today, with your defeat and the domain of my kingdom!"
Enma was swift to get a knock in on Kaira's jaw, tripping the hanyou up a bit. "No, that's not going to work...It'll be horrible, so many things will perish within such cruel darkness..."
"Look at you, stammering off in your statements," Kaira smugly gave his thoughts. "Darkness is all I've ever known, it's simply repayment for what the entire yokai and human societies have done to me! They shamed me, refused to accept me, displayed true levels of disgust… I'm too human to be a yokai, but too supernatural to be a normal human! Revenge is the only option for me!"
"Kaira..." Great King Enma began, shaking with his words in trying to find a reason, anything that could speak into his friend's mind. "Do you think a lifeless world is what you actually want? Besides, if she was still around..."
Kaira was a bit puzzled, as Great King Enma began to focus energy as he was covered in violet flames, a third eye awakening as the spiky haired king's attire became more ornate.
"...Is it what your mother would have wanted?" Great King Enma asked in a very harsh, loud tone. "Open your eyes, Kaira!"
With a mighty shout, a wave of fiery force managed to knock Kaira back into a nearby pillar, a loud crash being heard. As the smoke cleared from the impact, Great King Enma slowly approached Kaira, who had fallen onto his back shortly after being thrown into the pillar.
"En...Enma..." Kaira weakly spoke, the fiery king reverting back into his normal form as he heard the words of his friend. This time, they sounded genuine and true, like the Kaira the great king has always known.
"What is it, Kaira?" Great King Enma asked, Kaira struggling to keep his eyes open.
"I...I don't have a lot of time to explain...But you're going to have to take my heart soul out of my body for now, keep it safe, and run..." Kaira choked up, his voice sounding weak. "It's the...the only way to save me..."
"W-What do you mean?" Great King Enma asked in confused shock. "You know if a soul heart leaves a yokai's body, they die!"
"Trust me on this... I have a mostly human body..." Kaira advised, his eyes looking serious. "If it gets a hold of my soul heart... I'm finished... I'm gone..."
Great King Enma knew he had to just trust his friend's word and not ask what exactly 'it' is right now. He had to focus his energy to save his friend no matter what right now.
Once again, Great King Enma put his energy into absolute focus once more, concentrating on the soul heart within to find it and bring it out. With enough focus, Great King Enma was able to bring out Kaira's Soul Heart.
Unlike when a yokai's soul is completely doused in blue flames when one is trying to regain their physical form, a Soul Heart was much more easy to see, as it's flame coating was only very faint. The Soul Heart of Kaira itself was a traditional heart shaped form of energy, being a shade of royal blue, but what truly set it apart was it appeared to have some off-colored, more saturated sections that were fixed with something that resembled the repairing art of kintsugi.
Taking the word of his friend, Great King Enma silently rushed over to his desk to find something to put Kaira's Soul Heart into, a simple jar sealed with a cork, and put it within there to keep it safe.
Moments of peace would finally grace the great king of the yokai world, a much needed silence in the midst of a strange fight.
"My apologies for our rudeness, but is there where we-" The charismatic voice of a particular yokai butler interrupted the scene, looking quite embarrassed when he opened the rather loose door.
Great King Enma turned and noticed the group lead by Whisper, everyone looking shocked as he slowly started to walk over.
"Crap, he's noticed us..." Akinori quipped quietly.
"O-Our apologies once again, your majesty, it seems you're quite uhh, busy with something," Natsume spoke up to make things less awkward, at least that's what she hoped. "But this place is pretty empty and we didn't know where to go for an appointment."
Upon approaching the group, Great King Enma looked surprised for a moment. He had seen the faces of hundreds upon thousands of humans and yokai alike, but the likes of Whisper and his ilk always stood out.
"It seems you're still treating Fumika well, Whisper," Great King Enma spoke up, closing his eyes for a bit. "You truly are a butler who sticks until the bitter end."
"Actually I'm Natsume Amano, Fumika's my mom, actually..." Natsume corrected, Great King Enma's eyes shooting back open.
"Y-You're her daughter?" Great King Enma nearly stumbled over his words, seeming a bit on the flustered side. "Time goes by doesn't it huh? First an old friend in a polyamorous marriage...now this..."
"Anyways, long story short, is it possible you can decode this ancient tablet we found?" Whisper decided to get to the point, even at the cost of being a more than awkward interruption.
"Hmm...I suppose..." Great King Enma answered, taking a look at the old tablet, gazing at the ancient stone runes carved neatly in place.
"From what I can tell, this is from the Shuka Era, and it's surprising to see something like this be kept nicely as a lot of the artifacts from such ancient times have been lost, after an incident called The Second Darkening..." Great King Enma began to analyze. "It was written by Soragane of the Izana Snake Brothers, youngest and wisest among them...It details...hmm?"
"What does it say?" Natsume asked, Enma looking back from the tablet shocked.
"It details a type of sealing ritual it seems, as an emergency way of protection..."
"That's convenient because well, things ain't looking too good," Akinori directed everyone's attention to what was causing a great amount of fuss.
Everyone's attention was brought over to a dark aura consuming Kaira's body, the still, motionless body starting to move around once again. But something was off in some places, the snake king's body being jerked around wildly like a ragdoll trying to fit into an odd outfit.
Soon Kaira's weird motions stopped, his silhouette being hard to see among the jet black smoke that consumed most of his body.
"This body lacks a Soul Heart..." Kaira began to spoke, but it was clear who was speaking was not Kaira. The voice now possessing the king's friend was far deeper, being strained and raspy with a dangerously angry energy. Though, it wasn't gravely like one would expect, as there was at least a sliver of sophistication in the speech.
"...But the yokai and human yoki within this body are good enough for now, all I'll need is to consume Soul Hearts to truly awaken again," The voice commenting, ending on a bit of a sick chuckle. "While I can't get to it, I can feed off of the wrathful yoki made by the memories kept in the brain of this body..."
"…Just who are you?" Great King Enma made an attempt to question the figure, clutching the bottle keeping Kaira's Soul Heart and the stone tablet very tightly.
The voice merely puppeting Kaira's body gave a very unhinged, wild laugh.
"Fuhahahahahahahaha! Utter peasants you all are! With all your blabbering and being a fine king, I'd think you might've caught on, but I see your thought process is like that of a slug, so let me introduce myself!" The voice shouted, the black smoke clearing off of Kaira's body, revealing something rather unsightly.
Kaira's main body was the same, but it was twisted in several aspects. His attire remained mostly the same, but looking more wild and tattered. The once red belt that had two, long distinct ends now didn't end with simple cloth, but rather with snakes. In fact, the fluffy boa he had had been twisted into a large, horrifying python that gently coiled around the king's body. The snake king wore a bit more jewelry, wearing a simple but elegant crown on his head.
At least, it would have been an elegant crown had the center jewel not been a single glaring eye, which brings attention to Kaira's face. It was the same, but dark circles under his eyes being much more pronounced, and his eyes being the most haunting thing about him. They were hollow of any life and expression they might've had, being completely pitch black. No sign of pupils, irises, just a great dark void of a sclera.
"Perhaps a remix might be in style for now. Call me Bakasura Kaira!" The being properly introduced himself. He picked up the sword of the snake king, it being engulfed by flames of darkness the moment he touched his blade again.
"Now! Any last words before I slaughter you lot and claim my rightful throne?" Bakasura Kaira asked with a cocky grin on his face. Natsume soon stood up, taking note of how Great King Enma wasn't exactly doing his best.
"I have quite a speech to tell you, snake king," Natsume began, inserting an arc into the Elder Watch and turning it counterclockwise. "Shadow" could be heard from the watch in a demonic voice as Natsume hovered over several arcs.
"Now, summoning my friends! Komasan! Big Ears! Cu Sith!" Natsume called out, a large shadow casting in front of her as the four yokai started to manifest. Komasan with his fiery mane and fangs, Big Ears showing his sharp smile and huge claws, Cu Sith bearing his glowing eyes past his unkept fur…
Though amongst all the summoning, there was an extra among it all.
"Jii-tan is here!" Junior chirped, appearing alongside the fairy dog and cat, much to their confusion.
"J-Junior? This might be a dangerous fight," Cu Sith warned, his fierce eyes looking concerned. "You were supposed to stay behind!"
"Ay ol' Cu, donncha woraye abou'et," Big Ears reassured, stepping up into a fighting stance. "Ain' noythan too dangerouss' fer ol' mae!"
"Tsk, then bring it on!" Bakasura Kaira yelled, lunging his dark forged blade at the group of yokai.
Big Ears was caught a bit off guard, but being the cat he was, managed to backflip and do a hand stand, putting his strength into his legs to deliver a hefty kick to the possessed snake king's jaw. It wasn't strong enough to knock him back, but was enough to make him loose his balance, at least a little bit.
"Haaah! Take this!" Bakasura Kaira shouted, delivering a hefty slash to Big Ears, truly flinging the fairy cat a ways back.
"Oi! Yae can't keel mae! Aye'va got nyne laives yae know!" Big Ears cursed, the impact forcing him to turn back into his Lightside form of Cait Sith.
Cu Sith was a bit more effective, lunging from behind with a strong tackle. Usually such a thing might be seen as ineffective, but for a large fairy wolf dog, it could do some damage.
"Get off of me, you foul mutt!" Bakasura Kaira yelped, trying to get up despite the large dog trying to keep him pinned.
"Komasan, now!" Cu Sith gave the cue to the other dog yokai, the snow white komainu charging in with his azure mane ablaze.
"Take this!" Komasan shouted, blue fire soon being close enough to Bakasura Kaira, and Cu Sith grabbed the snake with his jaw and threw him into the fire like an old rug.
While Bakasura Kaira was down, Great King Enma's eyes had widened, beforeclosing as he put the tablet aside. "Alright, I think I've cracked the code."
"You have?" Natsume asked, Great King Enma nodding.
"Alright seems the ritual for sealing the foul demon is something like this; there's a very particular weak spot that needs to be struck, and then harnessing the possessing powers of starlight yoki, it can be sealed," Great King Enma explained, before biting his lip a little bit. "But, those who can wield such yoki are very rare, not even I have such ability."
"Even if we don't have the power, we can at least try, right?" Touma reassured as best he could.
"Yeah! I'm no magic tower dwelling wizard, but I know a thing or two about yoki energy!" Akinori more enthusiastically reassured.
Things would have to be acted out soon, as the spirital flames Komasan had set up were soon blown away by a strong gust of ominous wind, and Bakasura Kaira back up onto his feet.
"Idiots...Fools...Did you really think you could try to defeat me like this?" Bakasura Kaira angrily hissed, his body seeping with anger. He didn't flinch, even as Cu Sith tried to tackle back at him. The large snake around Kaira's shoulders began to move, biting down on one of Cu Sith's back ankles and throwing him in a similar manner to how he was throw, crashing the wolf dog right into Komasan.
"Hmph, if you wanna play dirty, Jii-tan can too!" Junior huffed, not being particularly pleased by the possessed snake king making quick work. Bakasura Kaira only offered a laugh in return.
"And just what do you plan to do, you weak scraping that barely qualifies as a yokai?" Bakasura Kaira questioned in a mocking tone, not even slightly intimidated by Junior.
"I plan on doing this!" Junior yelled, puffing up his little cheeks to transform a bit, shape shifting into a fairly large red python. However, it had some...interesting qualities to it, such as having a rather long snout, small eyes with black pupils, and what seemed to be a light, fuzzy coating. It seemed Junior only really vaguely knew what a snake looked like, or he was just mixing ideas at this point with his imperfect shape shifting.
The large, fuzzy python wasted no time, grabbing Bakasura Kaira by the ankles and starting to slither. Despite the size, Junior was able to go really fast, coiling up a pillar and dangling the possessed king at a large height.
"W-What is the meaning of this! Let me go right this instant you...you oversized worm!" Bakasura Kaira demanded to know, Junior only biting down harder and shaking him in such a way it caused him to drop his sword. Bakasura Kaira flailed, trying to punch the red snake, but it was no use.
"Alright...Let's try doing this!" Akinori stated, starting to become more serious as he focused as hard as he could on his spiritual energy. Touma took note, spinning the dial on the Yokai Watch Ogre.
"Summoning, Yoshitsune!" Touma yelled, pressing the side button on the Ogre Watch. A voice chimed, saying "Six O'Clock, Yoshitsune" as the boy's eyes went from a deep brown to a glowing green. "Lend me your wisdom!" Touma finished the speech, and within a blink of an eye, he traded places with Yoshitsune.
"Hmm..." Yoshitsune hummed to himself, taking note of the situation at hand. Was it a bit ridiculous? Absolutely, a large fuzzy python dangling an evil demon using a hanyou's body to move was a sight alright.
But, the green clad Genma didn't have time to comment or especially focus on the ridiculousness of the situation. He closed his yellow eyes, focusing. He could see yoki energy readings, much like a heat map in the human world. Things looked mostly normal, aside from an obviously massive patch of darkness. Focusing harder, Yoshitsune was able to see the particular spot that could unchain the darkness from the innocent host.
"Now! Begone foul demon!" Yoshitsune announced as he opened his eyes, rushing up to Bakasura Kaira with lightning speeds. He pulled out a shorthand sword, striking Bakasura Kaira's chest in a very particular way. It seemed to be nothing more than light tapping, but soon the dark aura that gave Bakasura Kaira his form started to smoke up again, leaving the body of Kaira. It floated and floated, until finally taking a vague form…
"W-What is that thing!?" Natsume stammered at the sight.
The form of the being was like if dark clouds full of the rage of storm gods could float and manifest. The being had a few solid areas as well, forming as white hot claws and fangs. It had only one eye, glaring in blood red.
The way the being moved and spoke was unlike anything in the human world or the yokai world.
"I am Eris, an aspect of Nyx," The being, Eris, introduced itself. "I was formed from countless bloodshed and anger only fueled by petty causes and revenge..."
"So...So you're..." Great King Enma asked, Eris not seeming to move it's fang covered mouth as it spoke.
"I wanted to use that Karou man as a host, but his energy was unacceptable despite wearing my necklace," Eris explained. "But that Kaira boy was more than enough, there was so much delicious desire for wrathful revenge, and I could have used more of it..."
Eris soon noticed the Soul Heart Great King Enma was keeping close to him, the wrathful being's eyes widening. "Give me that! That's this body's Soul Heart! It oozes with so much deep compassion I could just feast on and destroy instantly!"
Akinori stepped up, holding a prayer slip into his hand. "Well, you're going to have to get through me first!"
"Out of the way, fatty! The energy in that Soul Heart is so powerful, I must devour it!" Eris simply said, only for the prayer slip to land right on it's head and covering it's eye. It was confused, as not only could it see, but the raw holy energy was like squirting lemon juice into one's eye, but at least ten times more painful.
"I'm not done yet, now take this, spawn of evil that needs eye drops!" Akinori followed up, pointing both of his index fingers as they glowed with a strong, nearly blinding yoki energy. He formed two stars with them, the stars starting to spin faster and faster.
"By the power of the stars, seal this foul being! Crystal Starlight Seal!" Akinori finished, the two star shapes flying at Eris like they were heat seeking missiles. A foul, distorted loud screech could be heard from Eris, as it was struck by the light.
All that remained of Eris was a gemstone, very similar to the one described as the Bakasura Gem, being a blood red, oval shaped jewel that glared with anger and wrath. Akinori nonchalantly picked up the jewel, tossing it around.
"So, that's that for Eris," Akinori quipped, Yoshitsune following by his side as he changed back for Touma.
Junior brought over the now spiritually freed Kaira, transforming back as well. "Owie...Jii-tan's jaws hurt..."
Great King Enma rushed over to Kaira, freeing open his Soul Heart again and letting it go back into his friend's body.
A few silent moments passed, Great King Enma even wondering if it worked. But, soon enough, life and energy began to flow back into Kaira's body, the snake king's eyes slowly waking up again.
"It feels...weird to be back in my own body again..." Kaira commented, clearly quite dizzy. He was caught a bit off guard by Great King Enma giving him a hug.
"Thank goodness it worked, and you're alright..." Great King Enma responded, his words being quiet but still filled with plenty of joy.
"I can't believe you were that worried about me" Kaira responded with, giving a smile. "You usually aren't one to get so worked up and concerned."
"Of course I was worried! You're someone I care about deeply as...a friend..." Great King Enma responded, seeming to slip up a bit on the last part, as if he intended for something else to be stated.
The two kept enjoying each other's company for a little while, before Great King Enma helped Kaira back up, handing him the stone tablet.
"Here, I believe this was an artifact of your family's, yes?" Great King Enma prompted, Kaira looking over the tablet.
"Seems like it, this is the writing of the ancestors of the Izana Snake Family," Kaira responded, taking the tablet. He and Great King Enma looked over to the teens.
"So it was thanks to your efforts that demon was sealed away..." Great King Enma thanked the three.
"I wasn't expecting to ever fight anything like Eris, I can never imagine the full power it could have had," Natsume answered.
"Yeah, the full power of something like that could have been really dangerous, we woulda been absolutely goners," Akinori commented with a shrug. Touma looked off a bit.
"Given how Eris stated it was merely an aspect of Nyx, there's undoubtedly more of them out there..." Touma added in, seeming a bit worried. Natsume put her hand on his shoulder.
"If there's another five or five hundred pieces of Nyx, we'll do our best and stand strong to face them," Natsume reassured her friends, holding out her watch. "I have the Elder Watch, you have the Ogre Watch, and Akinori has his yoki magic."
Natsume looked over to Great King Enma and Kaira, giving a reassuring smile. "You can count on us to make sure these aspects of Nyx never get close to you again, both of your majesties!"
"We're sure of that, please keep your head up high no matter what," Great King Enma responded to Natsume's reassurance, the trio on their merry way.
Who knows where the rest of the aspects of Nyx were, and where they were choosing to dwell. But the three had a good idea where some others might be, and it wouldn't be too far from home to find them and defeat them...