Tale 6: North, South, East, and West! The Yokai Sangokushi!
Another night, another souring defeat for Tamamo no Mae had drawn for the malicious fox. The atmosphere was lonely and quite bleak. Her trusted hencemen, Wani and Jami, were nothing more than gone, and Kaira had betrayed her.
"It happened all so quickly, so many of my loyal followers either gone or having left me…" Tamamo no Mae monologued to herself, pacing around the empty halls of her once fairly lively mansion. It was dark and dank, just how she liked it, yet much lonelier. "Not like it mattered...such kinds of bonds were always kind of stupid anyways…"
In times like this, being bound to such solitude, the evil fox yokai thought to a time long since passed…
It felt like merely days ago, but it was actually thousands and thousands of years ago. Back in a time before there ever was the Enma family, but rather four highly powerful yokai all fighting each other for power over the unified human and yokai world.
In the midsts of the holy beast war, Tamamo no Mae was not a solo unit of darkness like she is today, but rather the pupil of the fiercest and most ruthless of the holy beast yokai. She would trail behind the vermillion scarlet feathers of the bird yokai who showed no mercy to those who crossed her. She had such an undeniable strength and power...Tamamo no Mae couldn't help but admire greatly.
However, once the war had drawn to a close, an era of peace arrived, and the two left their ways. But….one day their paths did cross during the peaceful era.
"Ma?" A young, energetic voice with red hair asked, tugging on the wing of the bird yokai. "Who's that?"
Suzaku looked from afar, noticing the figure. She spread her wings, the red haired yokai and a similar black haired one taking cover behind her.
"Mother, I don't like the presence of this…" The black haired yokai wimpred, gripping tightly to the large vermillion bird's talon.
"Noruka, Soruka, my children…I don't think there's anything to fear…" Suzaku reassured her two children, lowering her guard down once the figure got closer.
"Ah, the great vermillion queen of the southern skies and flames, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Tamamo no Mae asked the bird yokai. Tamamo no Mae looked a bit different, having not yet having her dark cloak, exposing her tall, white and violet fox ears, as well as looking far less sinister.
"Tamamo no Mae, it really has been a while hasn't it…" Suzaku answered back, Tamamo no Mae looking back behind the bird.
"Err you two, I believe you should scurry on now," Tamamo no Mae remarked. "We're going to have some grown up talk."
"What do ya think you're gonna do with ma? You're not gonna take ma away from us!" Noruka asked, raising his small fists, Soruka trying to stop him.
"N-Noruka...l-let's go, she'll be fine, right?" Soruka asked, trying his best to drag his brother away from getting into a fight.
"Don't worry my children, I'll be fine, it's just a talk me and miss Tamamo are going to have, alright?" Suzaku reassured, both children hurrying back inside. Tamamo no Mae looked a bit confused.
"You have...children? With who?! I thought love wasn't your thing!" Tamamo no Mae yelped as soon as the children were out of earshot. Suzaku shook her head.
"It's...complicated, but without a war to fight, I've mellowed out and well, found something worth fighting and protecting for in this era," Suzaku answered simply and calmly, catching the fox off guard. "That being my beloved children, goodness...I couldn't imagine something horrible happening to them…"
"Seriously? Fighting for love is something that will never catch on," Tamamo no Mae stated rather dully. "If you have this softened attitude, you aren't going to be able to fight when this era of peace does end…"
"Nonsense Tamamo, just because I am not slicing and ripping everything I see into shreds doesn't mean I've lost my flame," Suzaku responded, the spark of her once feared aggressive nature slightly appearing in her tone.
"I am just saying when peace ends, you simply cannot expect to win by doing something like offering confectionaries," Tamamo no Mae explained further with her speech, resting one finger on her chin before giving a shrug. "All I am trying to say is that things like peace are only temporary, so don't lose your flame to fight..."
Suzaku was silenced for a moment from what Tamamo no Mae tried to say, even starting to show more obvious aggression, but she soon calmed down. "Are you underestimating me?"
"No, I'm merely looking out for you," Tamamo no Mae answered back, starting to take her leave. "If you get your hopes up too high in these peaceful times, it'll make the darker times all the more worse and devastating. Nothing's worse than being unable to fight since peaceful days softened you up too much…"
"And she never did take my advice…" Tamamo no Mae harshly whispered, done recalling her time from years past.
Tamamo no Mae took out the locket she had snagged from Kaira the other day, the key to finding the tombe she had been spending so much time searching for. "I'll make the world regret basking so much in harmony once again…and constantly fighting for such a pointless thing..."
The fox gave a sinister grin, clutching the locket tightly. Something seemed to click into her mind, her grin getting larger and larger. "Now I think I finally know where to find the key to restarting the whole world again…And the power to stop anything that crosses my path with my soultimate skill..."
With that knowledge, Tamamo no Mae transformed into a falcon, flying off from her mansion in search of the elusive Yokai Sangokushi…
"Is it okay if I come in?" The gentle voice of Mai quietly asked, peering through a door. She had been personally summoned to visit with Great King Enma herself. She was a bit worried what the trouble was, he was never the type to flat out ask for help.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Mai," Great King Enma answered, sounding a bit low and out of it. He was on the balcony that could be accessed from his room, sitting on a bench and looking at the sea outside. Mai sat next to the king, keeping her gentle yet composed posture.
"What's been bothering you lately?" Mai asked with true concern for her friend. The blond king was quiet for a moment, clasping his hands over his mouth before speaking.
"...I've been thinking about what Darkness God Onryou was saying yesterday," Great King Enma spoke up, sounding uneasy with his tone. "I thought what was in the past was, well, in the past...but is it really?"
Mai was silent for a moment, letting it all sink in. She knew as well as he did that he was formerly a horrifying god of darkness, misguidedly fueled by tragedy to bring destruction and suffering. Thinking back to that moment, that day they had first encountered one another in the clash of light and dark…
"It's true that you can't turn back time and reverse what you did back then, or anything really," Mai answered with a gentle nod. "But people can change for the better with time, so can yokai, right?"
"True...but…" Great King Enma spoke, his voice getting more distant and quiet. "But what's stopping some curse from turning me back into what I was? What if I really end up hurting someone I care about!?"
The great king breathing got more shaky and uneasy, eventually a few tears appearing in his eyes. "W-what if I think I'm changing for the better but I'm actually not?!"
Shocked by this, Mai took a few deep breaths, trying to keep herself professional. He was the king of all yokai after all. She grabbed into her bag to pull out the yokai jewel of Enma and offered her hand.
"I do believe people and yokai truly have their good and bad points. I'm not perfect, I'm a bit of a clutz, I'm not good at math or science, I don't get along with my brother very well…" Mai began to speak. "But, I think one of the reasons the bonds between yokai and humans is critual is we can learn a lot from each other…"
In a friendly gesture, Mai softly grasped one of Great King Enma's hands and held out the royal violet, gold, and scarlet jewel in front of him.
"To me it doesn't matter if you're called Enma, Jizou, Daitaro, or whatever," Mai continued with her speech, gently smiling as she looked a bit embarrassed with her face flushing a bit red. "You're my friend and I'm frankly very honored by that fact, as seen with the jewel here. We have a true friendship…"
Great King Enma couldn't help but nod and smile from the girl's words, holding the other's hand. "Right, I may have not had too many friends myself, so I'm glad to have you and the others…"
Mai helped the king up, keeping a genuine, gentle smile on her face. "Don't worry, I'll be here for you. It's what friends do, yeah?"
This moment of peace was soon interrupted by something that Great King Enma seemed to have sensed, feeling more tense.
"...I think something's wrong...I feel an incredibly powerful amount of dark yoki energy in the central hall…" Great King Enma said, Mai quickly grasping her watch.
"Oh dear...even if it's her...we have to fight, I'll message the others in a manner that will alert them swiftly and urgently!" Mai responded, getting out her phone and booting up the group chat she and the others were in as the two ran. She made sure everyone was notified that indeed, it was an emergency and to come to the yokai world's grand palace immediately.
In the central hall, in it's large circular fashion, there was a figure in the center. It looked unfamiliar at first.
"A...A monkey?" Mai asked, pointing to what looked like a black spider monkey in the center a bit puzzled by the sight of such a thing.
"You are such a simpleton, aren't you?" The monkey asked, the hot pink eyes of said monkey glaring. With a puff of smoke she revealed her true form of Tamamo no Mae.
"Tamamo no Mae! How did you even get in?!" Great King Enma asked, ready to fight the evil yokai.
"Oh simple, no ordinary guard would have suspected an innocent little bee flying by," Tamamo no Mae laughed, pulling out the locket she stole from Kaira. "Now be ready to witness the dawn of a new age your majesty and your little helper!"
A glowing circle appeared under Tamamo no Mae, the ground beginning to shake a little as something rose up from the glowing circle. It seemed to be an ancient book, but bound with a powerful seal. The evil fox grasped the book with her hands.
"At long last it's mine! The Yokai Sangokushi! All I have to do is undo the seal and such unlimited power of suffering at the expense of others…it will all be mine!" Tamamo no Mae crackled, trying to hurry to undo the seal.
"Why would you want such a thing? And for what!?" Mai demanded to know, showing a rare side of aggression. It was at least enough to slightly startle Tamamo no Mae in undoing the book's seals to speak.
"The concept of peace and good is a fruitless and childish one. After all, the sun and moon fight over the sky in a constant battle of day versus night. No amount of wishes to the stars, or the seven brightest stars in the skies can quell such a fued…" Tamamo no Mae began to give a speech to the two, slowly trying to break off the seal on the book. "...And such feuds are all throughout the world...wishing for peace is a foolish thing, as it never lasts forever…"
Tamamo no Mae was able to break the seal on the book, a flow of sealed up dark magic flowing onto her. "Which is why I declare for a world without such a silly thing, there's no use getting your hopes up only for it to all crumble away, right?"
Mai knew right now was the time to hold absolutely nothing back. She grabbed into her bag to pull out a solid, shining gold yokai jewel, a serious look in her eyes as she took a stance.
"You may revel in absolute darkness, but wherever there's darkness, there's always a shining light!" Mai began to say, inserting the golden jewel and beginning her hand motions.
"My dearest friend of the truest and noble heart, please hear my call in this dark time! None of us can face this great darkness alone, please help me and both worlds in shining once more…" Mai began her speech, doing much more dramatic motions. "...Yokai God of Eternal Light, Nurarishin!"
Within a beam of the most dazzling light, Mai had called forth the sparkling god and gained her stunning threads once more. Though instead of the Mirror of Light she previously wielded, she now had a jeweled hand mirror at her disposal.
"Being of such cruel, sickening darkness...prepare to beg for mercy at the hands of light!" Nurarishin began, Mai shortly following.
"Oh great, you sparkly types, my favorite…" Tamamo no Mae sneered sarcastically, readying herself.
"Nuaraishin, Enma, let's do this together! We have to hold her off until the others get here!" Mai rallied up, the three of them charging in at the evil fox.
The first thing Tamamo no Mae got a wave of fire from Enma casting fire magic to catch her off guard.
"Do you realize how nice and expensive this cloak is!?" Tamamo no Mae yelled, trying to put out some fire on her cloak. As soon as she got herself more composed, the fox was soon blinded by light from Mai's hand mirror.
While blinded, Tamamo no Mae was struck down by the blade of Nurarishin, knocking her down onto her feet. She still kept the book clutched in her hands, having broken the seal on the book.
"You fools…" Tamamo no Mae sneered, trying her best to stand up as she glared at the three as a powerful dark aura engulfed her. "You think you may have the upper hand…"
"Surrender now, Tamamo no Mae!" Mai yelled in response, Tamamo no Mae simply glaring back.
"But what you don't understand is I have enough power to unleash my ultimate attack! My soultimate!" Tamamo no Mae laughed, forming a spear of darkness. "Now prepare to ever regret defying the great Tamamo no Mae!"
Raw darkness formed in Tamamo no Mae's hand, readying it as she focused her aim onto Mai and Enma. "Ultimate Nine Tail Heartbreaker!"
"Mistress! Your Majesty, look out!" Nurarishin yelled, leaping in just in time to shield the two from the dark attack with great impact. THe clashing of darkness and light was pretty powerful, causing the shining god to fall over.
"Nurarishin!" Great King Enma yelled in horrified shock. Did she really manage to defeat him so easily…?
But there was something much more unsettling than the fall of the light god.
Mai was absolutely silent about the fall of Nurarishin.
Within moments, Kokoro, Shinju, and Mao all came crashing into the central hall, holding nothing back as they knew the situation was tense right now. It seemed they had missed a lot of things…
And were about to witness the beginning of something else…
"Guys! What's goin' on here!?" Kokoro demanded to know, Great King Enma still pretty shocked to see the sight.
"Is something wrong with Mai?" Shinju asked, noticing her friend acting weird.
"...I think so…" Mao answered to the two.
The usually serene and gentle blonde started to have a dark aura form around her, floating to the center of the hall over the fallen body of Nurarishin. There was something undeniably wrong, the air growing more and more tense.
"...Rise…" Mai stated, her voice completely deadpan and devoid of anything. She put her hands to her side as a large pillar of darkness engulfed the central hall with a powerful gust of ominous winds. Rather manic laughter could be heard until the darkness finally calmed down, taking it's form.
First and most noticeably was what formerly took the form of Nurarishin. Taking his place was a massive abomination of black and violet, spiky tentacles tentacles. On top of it, there were arms and a humanoid head sticking out with long white tentacles for hair...quite an unruly sight to behold…
But even more unsettling was the one leading the charge, Mai. A powerful dark aura was causing her to float, having donned a torn up, corrupted looking gown that seemed to match the abomination she was conducting. To make matters worse, her hair changed to snow white and her eyes an eerie red-violet.
"Nurarihyon...let us destroy them…" Mai spoke up in a very dead sounding manner, the tentacle monster, Nurarihyon, responding accordingly.
The large, spiked tentacles of Nurarihyon slammed right onto the ground, causing the floor to crack and shake, throwing the remaining four off balance.
"Gah!" Great King Enma yelled, trying to keep his cool. "W-What's going on...What happened to Mai!?"
"I think it might have something to do with how she links her hearts with the yokai she summons…" Shinju stated as she analyzed the situation.
"So even if her yokai were to turn evil, she turns evil with them?" Mao concluded, looking nervous.
"Seems like it, and there's only one thing we can do right now!" Kokoro finished, getting out the Thunder Sacred Jewel and her azure yokai emblem. The other two nodded, getting out their respective jewels and emblems.
"Calm as a plain, the north blossoming with life! If you would please come forth, the Black Guardian...Genbu!" Shinju called first, a soothing black light coming from her emblem.
"The mind of the deep and near infinite ocean, let the eastern waves strike! If you would please come forth, the Azure Guardian...Seiryuu!" Kokoro yelled out, being enveloped within an azure light.
"Cloaked in snow, striking from the west when least expecting it! If you would please come forth…the White Guardian...Byakko!" Mao finished, a glistening white light topping it all off.
A trio of summoning and transformation sequences had been concluded, the trio having summoned their respective holy beast yokai in their beast forms, as well as donning matching threads. They all joined alongside Great King Enma, hopefully to be an even match against such a darkened force.
"...Tsk…" Mai commented on the assemble, lifting up one of her hands. Nurarihyon responded by thrashing his tentacles at the quartet, only to be stopped
"Ah!" Mao yelped, hastily defending himself with the wind and fire wheels he wielded. Thankfully it seemed to have worked for him, the tentacles aimed for him being knocked away.
"Not today, not any day you calamari fiend!" Byakko roared, pouncing on the knocked away tentacle attempting to come back for Mao. He kept a pretty solid pin on it despite being the smallest of the three beasts summoned.
"C'mon Mai, Nurari, snap right on out of it!" Kokoro shouted, managing to crudely wrap her nine section whip around one of the tentacles headed straight for her. "There's a lot of things I'd fight, but I don't want to have to fight you!"
Coiling around one tentacle and gripping another, Seiryuu seemed to have brewed up a plan. "The only hope we have now is to hold this...this thing down, and then one of us strikes!"
"Got it, start focusing your soultimate now, Enma!" Shinju instructed, using her staff to wrap up one of the tentacles aimed at her. It was a bit much to hold for Shinju, but she tried her best to keep her ground.
Great King Enma channeled powerful amounts of energy, focusing his hardest in a tense situation like right now.
Finally, with the simple fact she was an apatosaurus sized tortoise, Genbu was able to pin down the massive monster by using her front feet to pin Nurarihyon down. "Stand still...we can't let you hurt anyone...Not on my watch…"
"Now!" The group shouted from pinning down Nurarihyon, Great King Enma quickly taking a stance.
"Supreme Enma Bullet!" Enma yelled, finished focusing his energy and firing a powerful ball of violet energy. Mai was able to duck out of the way of such an attack, but Nurarihyon was less fortunate. It hit him square in the face, clearly doing a lot of damage.
"You...fools…" Mai stated, interrupting any victory before it could get started.
"Mai! Nurari! You have to stop yourselves!" Great King Enma started to question the girl. Mai still had that dead look in her eyes.
"Will you do...anything...?" Mai asked without a hint of any sort of energy in her tone.
"Yes! Please stop this!" Mao answered, Mai focusing a lot of her energy.
"Then…" Mai began, Nurarihyon managing to break free from everyone's grip. "...Perish…"
Having a violent noodle monster being unleashed proved to be quite difficult, as he wasn't going to let anyone pin him down so easily anymore…
Elsewhere, Suzaku was training Kaira under her wing quite literally. It was going well and peaceful for them until something caught the attention of Suzaku with the mere blowing of the wind.
"The winds of the north, east, and west…" Suzaku stated, looking around with her bird-like neck. "There's some serious danger, and I don't think the other Holy Beast Yokai are standing much of a chance right now…"
"You were able to get all that from just feeling the wind?" Kaira asked confused, Suzaku nodding.
"Yes, and I have a strong feeling where these winds have come from," Suzaku concluded, spreading her wings. "Now, please get on, we must not make a second of haste!"
Kaira climbed onto the back of the large vermillion peafowl, Suzaku taking off at high speeds into the sky as soon as Kaira was on her back. There was a serious crisis, and it couldn't be solved with just a few of them...it was going to have to take everyone…
The two had managed to fly to the yokai world's royal palace, the sight being quite uneasy. The clouds were dark, reeking of dangerous evil. There was a hole in the roof, easy enough for Suzaku to swoop right in.
However the sight within was not going so well. The other holy beasts and their summoners were all trying to hold off Nurarihyon, but it wasn't going very well. They were easily being knocked around like ragdolls.
Though Suzaku launched a ball of fire at the horrifying abomination, causing the others to notice her arrival.
"Suzaku!" The other three Holy Beast Yokai shouted in unison.
"And...Kaira?" Shinju and Kokoro questioned, looking confused, Kokoro looking about ready to suplex the snake king. Mao quitely stopped them before they could do any harm.
"It's...a long story," Mao explained to the two puzzled girls.
"There isn't a lot of time to talk!" Kaira shouted as he hopped off of Suzaku's back, swinging his blade at a tentacle coming his direction. "What we have to worry about is putting up with this thing!"
The fight between the others and Nurarihyon raged on, but things kept getting faster and hitting harder from Nurarihyon, being hard for the group to keep up with. It all kept going until…
"Argh!" Shinju yelped, realizing she was in grasp of one of the tentacles.
"You better let me go you overgrown cephalopod!" Kokoro yelled, having been snatched up as well.
"A-Ah! P-Put me down!" Mao yiped, being coiled up alongside the other two.
"You monster...hurting children!" Genbu gasped in shock, trying her best to charge at the mass of tentacles being puppeted by a corrupted Mai.
"I...do not...care…" Mai spoke, commanding a rather hard lash of tentacles at the tortoise, causing her to fall over on her back. This proved to be quite tricky, as at the end of the day, Genbu was indeed a tortoise, and being on one's back was a sticky situation.
"Stop this at once!" Seiryuu demanded, trying to spray the unruly being with water magic, but it had little to no effect, merely slightly damping such a monster. Before Seiryuu could follow up, he found himself quite harshly thrown into a nearby pillar, destroying it. The azure dragon found it hard to move underneath a surprisingly large amount of rubble on top of everything else.
Byakko had tried to sneak around the tentacled fiend to attempt to strike him from behind with his claws sharpened and ready. But alas, the tiger ended up getting knocked away by a strong tentacle, right into a wall. "Accursed bowl of squid ink dyed noodles…"
Mai aimed Nurarihyon's tentacles to finally grab up Enma and Kaira when they were taking a moment to refocus during the fight. Suzaku had attempted to protect the two, flapping her wings to create a fiery wind, but like the other beasts, she too was knocked into a wall, leaving a crater of an impact.
"Mai...why are you doing this? What's gotten into you!?" Great King Enma questioned once more, absolutely confused as to why Mai was acting this way.
"Why should I...care about you…?" Mai responded in a cold tone. "I only...live for the suffering of others…for power..."
"This isn't anything like you! The Mai I know would never in a billion trillion years say suffering is any good!" Kokoro yelled, getting pretty tense and emotional. "I mean, think about the amount of times you helped me without resorting to being brutal!"
The corrupted girl seemed to stop for a moment, recollecting moments...Initially encountering Kokoro spying for youkai activity...much more formally meeting her at the Sunset Mall...learning about that incident that shook her so much...helping her figure out herself and just who she was…
"We've been through so much Mai! Please listen to us, we can't lose you!" Shinju cried out, trying her best to make sure her voice was heard. "You've helped me and so many others so many times, it's truly amazing!"
More thoughts flowed through Mai's head...First going to the Swim Club...Foiling the plot of a corrupt student council president...encountering the Moon Kingdom...Helping whenever possible with her yoki abilities…
"I might've not known you for very long, but I see you as a true friend!" Mao shouted, his voice trying his hardest to raise up to be heard. "Y-You're one of the few people who's really spoken with me!"
Recent memories began to chime in...meeting Mao in St. Peanutsburg Library...Trying to save him from Tamamo no Mae with the help of Suzaku...Meeting up again and bonding on the bus to the resort…
"Listen I may have not gotten a chance to know you very well but…" Kaira added in. "But as much as I don't wanna admit it...encountering you and your pals helped me find out about myself…"
While only the memory of encountering Kaira at the soundstage and the Ryuu-gu courtyard came to mind, it was something Mai could recall…
"Please listen to us! We all know you're much stronger and far kinder than this…" Great King Enma yelled, clearly getting as emotional as everyone else. "You've helped us so much, so we're trying to help you by calling out to you!"
From those words, Mai began to recall once more. Hearing about the rise and fall of Enma from Yami...Actually encountering him in his corrupted, darkened state...and reaching her heart out to him despite all the odds stacked against her…
Memories, both happy and sad and in between, began to be reflected into the girl's mind...The ones she had shared with humans and yokai…
"...I…" Mai began to speak, her dead tone slowly becoming less and less so. The darkened aura began to fade away from her until…
"...I won't be held down like this anymore!" Mai finally yelled, reverting back to her normal self. She started to fall down, but she managed to pull out two things: the Fire jewel and the vermillion emblem.
"Burn it up in the southern skies above! If you would please come forth the Vermillion Guardian...Suzaku!" Mai shouted as she began to fall, undergoing a fiery vermilion transformation and landing gracefully. Suzaku seemed to have been rejuvenated as well, transforming into her more humanoid form.
Now that Nurarihyon was weakened, it would be easier for them to fight back now. Suzaku went to trying to free the one's trapped in Nurarihyon's tentacles, whereas Mai went over to help up the holy beast yokai get back up.
Once each beast reunited with their humanoid partner, they had transformed into their more humanoid forms to make them far less of an easy target for violent thrashes of tentacles.
"I think our best bet is to combine our powers with a combined attack," Suzaku suggested, would have easily started to break Nurarihyon's tentacles if they had any sort of skeletal bones in them.
"That could work, especially with how much dark energy Nurarihyon has been radiating…" Seiryuu concluded, before nodding. "Come, Kokoro, we have to get into position to the east!"
"Got it, cap'n, let's fry this joint!" Kokoro finished, running alongside her humanoid dragon companion. Everyone else got into their respective directions, holding hands with their beast companion as they felt strong surges of power within their hearts...
"Plains and Flora of the North…" Genbu and Shinju began to say together, a black yet gentle light starting to appear around them.
"Ice and Mountains of the West…" Byakko and Mao added in, a gentle white glow surrounding the two.
"Fire and Skies of the South…" Suzaku and Mai chimed in, radiating with vermillion light.
"Oceans and Rain of the East…" Seiryuu and Kokoro finished, glistening with an azure hue.
"Now, Power of the Holy Beast Elements!" All eight of them shouted, a pillar of highly powerful elemental energy that rose straight into the heavens itself.
The sheer force of such an attack was quite a sight to behold, and once it all faded out, Nurarihyon was no longer in the form of some horrifying abomination. Instead he took the form of a humanoid yokai with long silvery hair and black robes, complete with a tired, aged look in his eyes.
"Are you alright?" Mai asked the white haired yokai with a sense of reassurance.
"I believe I am alright. I do apologize for that...ahem...rather unruly form," Nurarihyon apologized.
"All four of you seemed to have arrived...alongside your little helpers…" Tamamo no Mae commented, revealing herself out of the shadows, Yokai Sangokushi in her paws.
"That's...the Yokai Sangokushi!" Suzaku gasped, clenching her talon like hands into fists. "B-But how!?"
"Oh this little locket I don't need anymore…" Tamamo no Mae said, throwing the locket aside. "Either way, impressive you slops were able to defeat something as dangerous as a powerful yokai charged with that so called power of heart."
Tamamo no Mae gave a shrug and a grin. "Not like it'll do anything against me, you four are the types who used parts of your very souls to create something even equal to the disastrous one. Even he was able to easily overpower his own mother and father..."
"Wait...don't tell me…" Mai stated, looking horrified.
"Oh you silly little girl...the yokai of absolute disaster, strife, and discord...he's the combined soul of the yokai world's first twins, Noruka and Soruka!" Tamamo no Mae explained, flipping through the book before closing it. "Being the parents of an utter disaster, not sure if that's the title Suzaku and Byakko wanted…"
"I will make sure with my life you don't purposefully repeat something so...so disastrous!" Suzaku aggressively stated, getting more and more angry with each breath.
"Looks like I've angered the mama bird...How such bonds corrupt souls into behaving in such misguided ways of anger…" Tamamo no Mae said rather unamused. "Why get along, it's merely temporary and everyone has to fight one day or another."
Tamamo no Mae turned her back, still holding the book. "The last two of the jewels are with the twins. One's in the west, the other's to the east, in locations that are alike yet different, a place beloved in both the east and west." Tamamo no Mae stated, the others looking confused.
"But how did you even have time to obtain such knowledge!?" Seiryuu questioned, Tamamo no Mae giving a glare.
"While you were busy frying up an octopi dinner, I had done the spell to bring them forth somewhat." Tamamo no Mae explained. "Their seals have been lifted, all they need is to be awakened, and I'll be good to go."
The evil fox yokai took a stance, putting the book to her side. "And now I must take them both in my control! If I'll go east or west first, that'll be for you to find out!"
With a quick snap, Tamamo no Mae was gone, leaving the group stunned.
"Oh no...We can't let Tamamo no Mae summon something horribly disastrous…" Shinju stated, looking worried.
"And hurt someone's own beloved children in the process…" Mao added in, Great King Enma thinking about something.
"I don't mean to break the tension but…" Great King Enma began. "If I'm a descendant of Huang Long and he's made of parts of you four...does that make you guys all my great great great grandparents or something?"
The four holy beast yokai looked confused and exchanged puzzled looks before nodding.
"I suppose so technically speaking…" Seiryuu stated a bit unamused.
"Does that mean I can start calling you great great great grandson then?" Byakko asked, before Kaira stepped in, the tossed locket in his hands.
"Either way, I think we're all gonna have to split up…" Kaira began to get things back on track. "I...I can't forgive Tamamo for merely using me and my passed on mother like this!"
"It's settled then," Genbu began, keeping a calm tone in these troubling times. "Me, Suzaku, Mai, Shinju, and Great King Enma will go to the west. Byakko, Seiryuu, Mao, Kokoro and Kaira, please head to the east."
Both groups had split off to their respective sides, taking one last look at one another before heading off into their directions.
"Good luck, everyone!" Mai said, looking to go off with Suzaku and the others.
"Stay safe everyone, and don't let your guard down!" Kokoro waved back, going off with her team.
The times were becoming quite tense, who knew which of the twins Tamamo no Mae would be going after first. The end was drawing near, and everyone had to keep their head up and focused on winning in a situation that was either win or lose.